Within the past decade and a half, the way people watch movies and television has drastically changed. With movie theaters slowly going out of business and many families canceling their cable plans, it’s clear streaming services have taken over as the dominant media-watching platform.
With the new wave of instant access to movies and TV shows, many different services have been created and are available to a wide range of consumers across the globe. The question is: What streaming services do college students enjoy the most?
The most notable streaming services, according to students, include Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus, HBO Max, Kanopy, Peacock and Prime Video.
When considering which streaming service is the best, it was helpful to ask various members of the film club here at the University of Minnesota to provide their opinions.
From the film club members, a common opinion is that Netflix, even with its recent increase in subscription price, will continue to be one of the more popular streaming services simply due to its easy accessibility and wide range of options. Along with this, Netflix has had relatively large success with its original content, with shows like “Stranger Things” and “Squid Game.” However, an aspect of the streaming service that could use improvement is the decisions surrounding which shows will be discontinued.
“Netflix has been on a slight decline in the kind of content they’ve been producing and the decisions they make for what content gets renewed or canceled consistently baffles me,” film club member Xavier Greene said. “Although some of their originals, like ‘Ozark,’ remain some of the best on TV right now.”
Another opinion that came from University’s film club is about the extraordinary takeoff that HBO Max had. Although it has only been available for a few years, it has already made a name for itself as a streaming service that is here to stay. With an easily accessible platform and originals like “Euphoria” and “Succession,” users mostly have good things to say.
“HBO Max by far is my favorite service,” film club member Jack Verlee said. “A wide array of content from comic book stuff to recent movies like ‘DUNE’ and just generally high-quality content.”
Another club here at the University of Minnesota that has great insight with regards to movie and TV streaming services is Hook Club. The club centers around reviewing various albums, and members tend to generally have a large interest in film as well.
With Kanopy offering great deals to college students at public universities, one member had high opinions of the streaming service.
“My favorite streaming service is Kanopy because it’s free with a library card [and has] no ads,” Jack Rahill said. “It has a lot of interesting movies you can’t find anywhere else, and it’s constantly adding new stuff.”
