It’s a big day in streaming-TV land, with the head-to-head premiere of two big, expensive shows from two rival giants — Netflix debuting “Marvel’s Jessica Jones,” Amazon releasing the entirety of their Philip K. Dick adaptation “The Man In The High Castle.” It’s the first time that we can recall that the competitors have gone head to head in this way, especially with such heavyweight properties, but according to a new study, your money should probably be on Netflix for which makes the greater impact.
Viewing figures on streaming shows have been famously kept under wraps for the most part, but Screen Daily report new research from data firm Parrot Analytics examining the five biggest shows in the U.S., U.K and Australia from HBO, Netflix and Amazon, using a methodology that the company claim is more accurate, thanks to examining ‘demand’ for a show, across streaming sites, social media, illegal file-sharing and others.
And it’s not great news from Amazon, with the study claiming that the network so far trails behind the two rivals in terms of impressions, coming third in all three territories. Their most popular show is Ron Perlman vehicle “Hand Of God” (which got lousy reviews), but the silver lining might be that even before its launch “Man In The High Castle” was getting more buzz than several Amazon shows, including full series “Mozart In The Jungle.”
Unsurprisingly, “Game Of Thrones” seems to come out on top, but more surprising is large presence of Netflix’s “Narcos,” which outranks all but HBO’s fantasy epic in the U.S. and U.K, even beating “True Detective.” It’s, according to the study and its ‘Demand Expressions,’ Netflix’s top title in America, with “Orange Is The New Black” top in the U.K. and U.S, and flagship “House Of Cards” not even making their top five.
We’re still at a nebulous point in measuring the success of streaming shows, and crucially, this study doesn’t necessarily seem to measure how many people are actually watching the shows, and has too small a target area to mean all that much. But still, it suggests that Amazon have some work to do — will “Man In The High Castle,” and the upcoming second season of the Emmy-winning “Transparent,” help? We’ll be keeping an eye out in the coming months.
