Netflix the top streaming platform in 2020, despite Disney+ and Apple TV’s big spending and the launch of HBO Max

The lack of live entertainment because of Covid-19 lockdowns means we spend more time streaming, and Netflix has benefited the most

But 2020 has also been a year of job losses and, with worsening financial circumstances, making billion-dollar bets on TV series may backfire

Reading Time:3 minutes

Anya Taylor-Joy in a scene from the Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit. Netflix remained the top streaming platform in 2020. Photo: AP

Published: 8:45pm, 26 Dec 2020Updated: 4:02pm, 10 May 2022

Corporate behemoths Disney and Apple launched their challenge to Netflix in November of 2019 with the debuts of their streaming platforms, adding even more competitive energy to a marketplace that already included Hulu, Amazon Prime and CBS All Access, as well as several other smaller contenders.

In the spring, just as the pandemic took hold, three more companies joined the fray: HBO Max, Peacock and Quibi. With the dire realities of Covid-19 making it clear that movie studios could either shelve their big titles indefinitely or make them available digitally, 2020 became the “Year of Streaming”.

Quibi went belly up before the year would end. Even with US$1.75 billion in funding, the mobile-only platform from founders Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman was a dud from the word go and a notorious footnote in a year that became primarily a stay-at-home experience.

The lack of live entertainment has meant we’re spending more time streaming, but 2020 has also been a year of job losses and worsening financial circumstances; paying for a half-dozen monthly subscriptions isn’t feasible or even desirable for most people.

Timothee Chalamet (left) and Rebecca Ferguson in a scene from the upcoming 2021 film Dune, which will stream on HBO Max. Photo: AP

Hence this jostle for market dominance, which has been a windfall for audiences in search of quality. There’s more to watch than ever – name your niche and there’s someone catering to it – but there are also more barriers to entry, like a garbage user interface, or the lack of deal-making with Roku that would’ve ensured a certain streaming service (cough, HBO Max) would be accessible on more than a computer.