I’ve sampled most of the video streaming services at one point or another. Not all simultaneously, of course – I’m not made of money – but I’ve dipped into a diverse mix at one time or another, especially when offers and free trials have appeared to me. There are a lot of platforms to choose from, after all, and it’s easy to see why would-be viewers become somewhat overwhelmed when they’re faced with a choice of near-dozens to which they could become tethered. We’re not living in boom times either, so making the right decision is a matter of financial prudence.
At the current moment, Disney Plus is my main source of entertainment, mainly because it has the perfect blend of quality and quantity which I deem necessary in separating the also-rans from the Award winners. Netflix has almost too many choices, much of which doesn’t interest me because I’m not obsessed with true crime documentaries or endlessly watching Friends on a loop. Paramount Plus and Apple TV Plus are getting there, even if they need a little more content to bolster their ranks, and I can’t personally see the appeal of ITVX; reality shows based in Essex are not worth paying for, in my humble view.
Amazon Prime Video should provide a happy middle ground for most, in that it can often be a semi-affordable way to get a decent streaming platform and online marketplace (you can buy and rent series and movies alongside the freebies), and it’s a service that I’ve had for a good while thanks to my ongoing subscription as an Amazon Prime customer. Around £9 / $9 per month for a full-service Prime membership with a decent streaming platform thrown in is, after all, a pretty solid deal when you consider that a 'Standard' Disney Plus subscription will set you back £8 / $8 and all you get is the video streaming catalogue.
Prime Video offers a decent service, too. It’s not perfect, as we’ll see, but I’m fond of the streaming site as a whole and it has certainly improved somewhat in recent months and years. Bezos’s library did feel a little thin both in terms of movies and TV shows when I first took up membership a few years back when I was still a stripling student, but that’s a failing that, for the most part, has been impressively rectified. We're getting there.
The quality isn’t bad, either, both in terms of content and the format on which you can watch it. Lots of titles can be watched in 4K through your web browser, iOS and Android apps and your TV app if you’ve got an Amazon Fire device or a smart TV, not to mention games consoles, with plenty of HD 1080p offerings giving a decent account of themselves regardless. You even get Dolby Atmos titles on Prime Video as part of a standard subscription, and that's not something to be taken lightly.
Once you get watching, you’ll find that Amazon’s strategy is clearly one of trying to bet its bucks on a few big hitters rather than spreading itself thin across a range of middling filler. TV-wise, Prime Video sets a lot of its stock by a pantheon of major headline titles such as The Boys, Reacher, Invincible, The Grand Tour, Fallout and of course The Rings Of Power, one that works when those titles hit the spot. Most of the time, thankfully, they do, albeit with a few notable exceptions – good gracious is Rings Of Power slow to get going.
The movies have also really improved in terms of actual quality. It used to be a case that you were scrolling through the dregs of Will Ferrell’s back catalogue or some dubious-looking Russell Crowe actioner from his post-2000s decline, but things are markedly improved, especially in terms of dragging over big-name franchises to its shores. The Hunger Games is an eye-grabber, but the recent addition of practically every Bond movie ever, The Hobbit series and quite a few Mission Impossibles adds real allure. Add to that some great standalones and you’re looking at a platform that is, unlike most things at the moment, seemingly getting better as time wears on.
But there's a 'but'
So where’s the ‘but’ in all of this? Well, aside from the clear virtues and improvements labelled above, Prime Video still lags behind its competitors when it comes to delivering that perfect blend of quality and quantity that puts the likes of Disney Plus as our king of the hill and Netflix as the most popular platform on the market. Yes, there are a strong, clear number of headline TV series, but once you dig beyond the aforementioned pantheon of great titles, things begin to look a little thinner on the ground. Also, if you tend to blast your way through a given show in the blink of an eye, you might find that the library is looking a little bare in a matter of months. Disney Plus’ roster of TV offerings – The Simpsons, Futurama, Family Guy, Rivals, every Marvel original show ever, The Bear, American Horror Stories, Shōgun (and plenty more FX goodies), What We Do In The Shadows, Atlanta, Arrested Development, 24... the list seriously goes on and on.
Movies, too, might have improved in terms of quality and their number, but there aren’t quite enough to compete with the best in the business, especially when it comes to the latest releases. It’s nice to have some of those major franchises making an appearance, but a few more really excellent standalones wouldn’t go amiss. Amazon has been leaning heavily on The League of Ungentlemanly Warfare for months now, and that’s hardly a ringing endorsement for the platform as a whole. Netflix cinematic originals might be hit-and-miss, but at least they're put out with more regularity.
Then there are more specific weak spots which Amazon has failed, perhaps deliberately, to address. The documentaries on offer are nowhere near the standard of the nature docs offered by Netflix’s My Octopus Teacher, Blackfish and Life On Our Planet, while the stand-up comedy listings, while acceptable, aren’t in the same league as most of the heavy-hitters who have found a home. You can't have everything, I suppose.
None of this detracts from the fact that Amazon Prime Video is a very good streaming service for the price. The value is naturally better if you’re already a Prime customer, but you really can’t quibble with how much you’re getting if you take the membership as part of a wider package. Admittedly some gaps need filling, and perhaps you’ll find yourself a little thin on material if you tend to be a relentless binger, but those appear to be issues that Amazon is working hard to rectify. If it uses the momentum it has generated and keeps building on this solid platform, Prime Video will be a truly formidable package.
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