Streaming Wars, October 2020: First soldier down

Quibi has officially died, the first victim of the Streaming Wars. Meanwhile, HBO Max is in the fight of its life and Netflix makes it all look easy.

Every month, we’re keeping track of the victories and defeats, the wins and the losses, the triumphs and the tragedies of the ongoing battle to monopolize your time in front of the TV. Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max and more are all in a war for your time and money, but not everyone can win. We saw that in a big way in October, when the streaming wars finally took a life: Quibi’s.

We map out all of the ups and downs of the streaming wars on an ever-evolving chart, but for now, here are the past month’s movements:

CBS All Access

The big news this month was the premiere of Star Trek: Discovery season 3. It’s always nice to have more Trek, but otherwise CBS All Access isn’t moving the needle much. Points: + 1

Netflix

As always, Netflix had plenty of buzzy new stuff to watch, including The Haunting of Bly Manor, The Trial of the Chicago 7, the new period dramas Barbarians and The Queen’s Gambit, plus a remake of Rebecca. The biggest splash may have been made by Adam Sandler’s new movie Hubie Halloween. Points: + 3

Disney+

Disney+ may not be able to beat Netflix for pure quantity, but this month did see the return of The Mandalorian, probably the hottest show on any streaming service right now, which counts for a lot. Points: + 2

Hulu

A pretty standard month for Hulu. It got the Bounre movies, The Expendables series, a bunch of James Bond films and the newest seasons of Rick and Morty and Killing Eve. Not much in the way buzzworthy original content, though. Points: +/- 0

HBO Max

HBO Max added some old fan favorites to its library this month, including The Matrix movies, a lot of DC stuff, and in early November, The Lord of the Rings films, but nothing new created a lot of buzz, although it did get an infusion of political and music documentaries. We also found out that the service is doing pretty meh subscriber numbers compared to the competition, so the best it can do is break even. Points: +/- 0

Amazon Prime Video

Amazon got into the spooky spirit with a series of new horror features from Blumhouse, finished the second season of The Boys on a high note, and got a surprise Borat sequel. It doesn’t have the quantity of Netflix, but little does, and its originals pulled it through. Points: + 2

Apple TV+

Apple TV+ got documentary series Tiny World, the second season of young adult series Ghostwriter, and Sofia Coppola’s new movie On The Rocks. The last of those generated the most buzz, but still not much. Points: +/- 0

Peacock

Peacock didn’t have much in the way of original content in October, but it did get the back catalogs of shows like Parks and Recreation, Saturday Night Live, Charmed and Keeping Up With the Kardashians, not to mention all eight Harry Potter movies (although they left at the end of the month). Could be worse. Points: + 1

Quibi

The Streaming Wars claim their first victim as Quibi closes its doors. Was it the weird “only 10-minute episodes” concept? The fact that it came out during a pandemic? Whatever happened, it’s over now. Points: N/A

RIP.

To follow the Streaming Wars as they happen, head here:

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels