I watched nothing but 10Play for a week. Here’s what I learnt

Do you flip between several streaming services every night furiously scrolling for something good to watch? It’s the most exhausting ritual – even more so when you let yourself think about the money you’re spending on all these platforms that are only disappointing you.

Would you feel better if you gave it all up? Could you live on just one free streaming service?

Welcome to the wonderful world of 10Play.Credit: Taylor Dent

That’s the experiment my colleagues took on when recently road-testing SBS On Demand, ABC iview and Tubi for a week.

And, taking up the challenge, I decided to shut down my old faithfuls like Netflix, and tune in to 10Play.

What does it offer?

10Play has an extensive range of reality TV and light entertainment on offer – from Taskmaster to MasterChef to The Bachelor. It also includes multiple international versions of some of its most popular imports like Survivor.

The small selection of scripted content is dominated by crime procedurals like NCIS and CSI, and nostalgic ’90s shows like Charmed and Sabrina the Teenage Witch. It does, however, house a couple of classic Aussie series including every episode of The Secret Life of Us and more than 2500 instalments of Neighbours.

Feel like catching up with some familiar faces?Credit: Justin McManus

Soccer fans can catch up on full A-League matches as well as the latest replays from the Socceroos and Matildas. And kids can check out old classics like Spongebob Squarepants, Fairly Odd Parents and Rocket Power thanks to a partnership between Ten’s parent company, Paramount, and Nickelodeon.

First impressions

I wasn’t too upset about being assigned this task because I was already using the platform to watch the new season of Taskmaster. When Australian Survivor is on, I also regularly hit up the service three times a week to either watch live (I’m a Millennial so stopped trying to use terrestrial television years ago) or on demand the next day.

But I’d never really fired up 10Play to browse the catalogue or discover something new. And, it turns out, that’s a different experience entirely.

On the plus side, a quick browse led me to discover a whole new season of The Traitors UK I hadn’t seen yet. The first season of this reality game show fuelled by conniving gameplay and psychological warfare (don’t judge me) was incredible viewing – as was the Australian version that premiered in 2022 – so I immediately knew I had something to get stuck into.

I was also excited there was a good selection of Australian comedy specials including Anne Edmonds, Aaron Chen, Michael Hing, Geraldine Hickey and Mel Buttle. I love Chen’s comedy but had missed his special, If Weren’t Filmed, Nobody Would Believe, from a few years back. It was nice to see local acts get such prominence in a streaming library, and it gave me a good nudge to catch up.

Unfortunately, they have such prominence because there’s so little else to choose from when it comes to scripted comedy and drama. And things are even worse over in the “movies” tab (unhelpfully positioned as a subhead under “shows”).

Though there are a few popular flicks – no doubt slated as Friday and Saturday night movies for the main channel – like Mean Girls, Blades of Glory, The Truman Show, Rocketman, the bulk of the list is made up of dire AI-style fever dream titles inexplicably about love, Christmas and death. My favourites: Eat Drink and Be Married, The Santa Squad, You Can’t Fight Christmas, My Terrorized Teen, Framed By My Sister and Nanny’s Killer Scandal.

No, I didn’t watch any movies.

What I didn’t love

As with any free streaming service, ads were an obvious issue. It was a particularly big challenge when throwing on a show for my 12-month-old twins as an ad plays before any content has started.

My babies have become accustomed to receiving The Wiggles or Sesame Street on demand in critical moments of solo parenting, and even just one ad (let alone the rogue playback error that hit us on night one) can feel like an eternity when one baby is screaming and your hands are occupied with another in the bath.

Spongebob’s face, frozen on my screen, is now forever imprinted in my brain. Credit: Nickelodeon

Another big downside is the lack of complete seasons and inconsistency between flagship shows. Though you can rewatch every season of Australian Survivor, for instance, they only have seasons 8-11 of The Bachelor. Excited to binge Friends? You have 21 episodes to choose from: a scattered selection from seasons 1, 2 and 10. That’s fine if you’re on a two-hour plane trip, but it probably won’t cut it at home.

Would I recommend it?

10Play is great when used as a catch-up service for whatever you missed the night (or week) before on TV, but it’s slim pickings beyond that. And if you’re not a fan of reality shows or the 1990s, you might struggle to get into it at all.

It was nice to see a lot more Australian faces on my screen during the week, but as the experiment came to an end I was really excited to jump into all the buzzy, international drama that had dropped on other streaming services (first up: Under the Bridge on Disney+ and Presumed Innocent on AppleTV+). It’s a shame that Ten doesn’t have more to offer in that department. I would have happily watched a 2024 version of The Secret Life of Us!

But sadly, in the end, I can only recommend using 10Play as your sole streaming service if you want to drastically reduce your screen time.

What I watched

Wednesday, June 12: Spongebob Squarepants (1 episode); Taskmaster Australia (2 episodes)

Thursday, June 13: Baby Shark’s Big Show (2 episodes); Anne Edmonds: Why Is My Bag All Wet?

Friday, June 14: Bubble Guppies (1 episode); The Traitors UK (season 2, two episodes)

Saturday, June 15: Taskmaster Australia (1 episode)

Sunday, June 16: If Weren’t Filmed, Nobody Would Believe

Monday, June 17: Baby Shark’s Big Show (1 episode); The Traitors UK (season 2, three episodes)

Tuesday, June 18: The Drew Barrymore Show (1 episode)

Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday.