Confused about the new streaming options? Here is a guide to all the services

The casual query of “What are you watching?” may be the ice-breaker of the last decade, but let’s not forget the common follow-up: “How many streaming services do you have?” Nowadays, choosing where to watch can be as complicated as deciding what to watch, with competing platforms trying to secure your monthly fee. As the number of platforms continues to grow – Warner Bros Discovery’s Max launches in Australia on Monday, March 31 – here’s an outline of your options to get you started – or thinking about a refresh of your existing portfolio.

Madeleine Sami (left) as Eddie Redcliffe and Kate Box as Dulcie Collins in the Tasmanian murder mystery comedy Deadloch.

Amazon Prime Video

For: Families who shop and view in bulk – the Amazon Prime library is endless.

Subscriber count: 4.8 million*.

Cost: $9.99 a month with ads; $12.99 a month ad-free.

Your first five shows: The Boys, Deadloch, The Expanse, Fleabag and The Underground Railroad.

Especially good for: Prestige “Dad-TV” series such as Reacher and Bosch.

User experience: Amazon Prime Video never relents in trying to sell subscriptions to other participating services.

Gary Oldman plays a slovenly spymaster in Slow Horses.

Apple TV+

For: Viewers who want a curated selection of original shows and movies featuring Hollywood stars – Apple TV+ doesn’t license content from outside sources.

Subscriber count: N/A.

Cost: $12.99 a month.

Your first five shows: Mythic Quest, Platonic, Severance, Slow Horses, Ted Lasso.

Especially good for: High-end science fiction such as Foundation, Dark Matter and For All Mankind.

User experience: Clean and sleek, per the Apple ethos, although it can take a minute to distinguish between Apple TV+ the streaming service and Apple TV the streaming hub.

Patrick Brammall and Harriet Dyer, the creators and stars of Colin From Accounts.

Binge

For: Those willing to find the gems amidst upheaval, as Binge loses its biggest selling point – the prestigious HBO library – to Max.

Subscriber count: 1.6 million.

Cost: $10 a month basic; $19 a month standard; $22 a month premium.

Your first five shows: Colin from Accounts, The End, Mr Inbetween, We Own This City and Wolf Hall.

Especially good for: There’s a sizeable library of Australian content, from dramas such as High Country and Wentworth to real estate reality shows such as Selling Houses Australia.

User experience: Mostly tidy, but it should be so much easier to find the personal list of shows you’ve saved to watch.

Selena Gomez stars in Only Murders in the Building with Martin Short and Steve Martin.

Disney+

For: Families looking for the gold-standard screen franchises such as Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars.

Subscriber count: 3.1 million.

Cost: $15.99 a month standard with ads; $20.99 a month premium ad-free (add $7.99 a month for an extra member in a different household).

Your first five shows: Abbott Elementary, Andor, Atlanta, The Bear, and Only Murders in the Building.

Especially good for: Keeping children occupied before the adults clock in for the night shift.

User experience: Easy to navigate and thoughtfully sized, but it sometimes feels as if the service, heeding its storied Disney heritage, downplays the edgier adult content.

Max

For: Viewers who can’t live without their fix of HBO’s latest must-see show.

Subscriber count: N/A.

Cost: $7.99 a month basic with ads; $11.99 a month standard; $17.99 a month premium.

Pedro Pascal as Joel in The Last of Us.Credit: HBO

Your first five shows: Barry, The Sopranos, Succession, The Wire and Veep.

Especially good for: Keeping up to date with whatever HBO title has a weekly hold on our attention – initially that’s The White Lotus, from April 14 it’s the new season of The Last of Us.

User experience: N/A.

Netflix

For: Everyone who either wants the one service that seemingly has something for everyone or simply prefers the market leader.

Subscriber count: 6.2 million.

Cost: $7.99 a month standard with ads; $18.99 a month standard ad-free; $25.99 a month premium.

Netflix blockbuster Stranger Things, starring (from left) Sadie Sink, Noah Schnapp, Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard and Caleb McLaughlin.

Your first five shows: Adolescence, The Crown, I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson, Ripley and Stranger Things.

Especially good for: Netflix has made a virtue out of global programming, whether it’s South Korea (Squid Game) or Germany (Dark) – just make sure to opt for subtitles over English-language dubbing.

User experience: Hard to fault when you have the iconic “ta-dum” as your sonic logo, but I could do without the interface trying to turn me on to their computer games.

Harrison Ford as Jacob Dutton and Helen Mirren as Cara Dutton in 1923.

Paramount+

For: Fans of Taylor Sheridan’s slew of tough-guys-and-gals-who-tell-it-like-it-is shows

Subscriber count: 1.8 million.

Cost: $6.99 a month basic with ads; $9.99 a month standard ad-free; $13.99 premium.

Your first five shows: The Agency, The Curse, Fake, Matlock and Twin Peaks.

Especially good for: Paramount+ is the ever-expanding streaming home of Star Trek – every episode of every series, plus the many movies.

User experience: The standard horizontal tile experience, which now runs smoothly after some teething problems in the early years.

Ava Cannon, Claudia Karvan, Nathalie Morris and Carlos Sanson Jr in Bump.

Stan

For: Those who want an Australian-owned streaming service and the eclectic library that comes with it.

Subscriber count: 2.6 million.

Cost: $12 a month basic ad-free; $17 a month standard; $22 a month premium (add $15 a month for Stan Sport).

Your first five shows: Bump, Community, The Great, Killing Eve, Poker Face.

Especially good for: There must be a cinephile working inside Stan, because year after year they have the best selection available of recent independent and international movies.

User experience: Credit to Stan for illustrating their sections with honest titles such as “Comedies you can watch while browsing your phone”.

Sam Reid in Interview with a Vampire on AMC+.

Niche streamers

AMC+ Three distinct services rolled into one. You get the low-key streaming output of the American cable network AMC (Interview with the Vampire, Dark Winds), Acorn’s suite of British murder mysteries, and the hardcore horror movie collection that is Shudder ($8.99 a month ad-free).

BritBox The streaming home for two British networks: the BBC and ITV. As those broadcasters conclude their distribution deals with Australian platforms, their shows – Death in Paradise, The Jetty, Maryland – are increasingly moving to BritBox as exclusives ($9.99 a month ad-free).

DocPlay has a wide-ranging library of documentaries. The majority of nominees for best documentary feature film at March’s Academy Awards, for example, have already debuted as exclusive releases on the platform ($8.99 a month ad-free).

All three seasons of Bluey are on ABC iview.

Free-to-air services

Each of the five broadcast networks in Australia has its own streaming platform, free to access with an email log-in. The trade-off is that aside from ABC iview, they all serve up ads before and during your chosen show. Obviously, each has everything the parent network broadcasts; beyond being catch-up services, the value is in finding what’s extra.

ABC iview boasts a plethora of bonus children’s programming (plus all three seasons of Bluey), works from the national broadcaster’s archives, and a rotating selection of older commercial titles. Right now, they have all 15 seasons of ER.

SBS On Demand expands the multicultural broadcaster’s commitment to international programming, particularly regarding European crime drama. There are cop procedurals and grim mysteries from multiple countries, with a surplus of Scandi noir.

7plus has a good selection of hits from previous television eras, whether it’s Alias, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or Friday Night Lights. They also pick up the free-to-air debut of significant series that were previously behind a paywall. Look for The Americans or Devs.

9now is noteworthy for its deep roster of vintage comedy series. Time capsule shows include I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, MASH, The Golden Girls, and a slew of classic sketch comedy from French and Saunders.

10Play has exactly what fans of The Traitors need: the British and American editions of the reality competition. It also fast-tracks episodes of the long-running American soaps The Bold and the Beautiful and The Young and the Restless.

* All audience figures from Telsyte’s 2024 Subscription Entertainment Study. Stan is owned by Nine, the publisher of this masthead.

Which streaming services do you subscribe to and why? Let us know in the comments below.