After a steady four-year climb to the #1 position, Netflix once again tops the list in 2021, solidifying its presence as the leading “Must Keep” TV brand in the United States, according to the 14th annual “Must Keep TV” report from Solutions Research Group (SRG). The research from this year is based on 1,400 interviews across the country with consumers aged 12 and older, and conducted in May 2021.
ABC, CBS, Prime Video and NBC follow Netflix to round out the top 5. Amazon Prime Video is now in the #4 position, moving up from #6 last year. Meanwhile, Hulu moves to #6, followed by Fox, and Disney+ jumps from #13 last year to #8 in 2021. The debut entry in SRG’s “Must Keep” TV for 2021, HBO Max, comes in at #9, and ESPN is ranked #10 overall this year.
Peacock and Apple TV+ entered the 2021 rankings at #29 and #33, respectively, and Paramount+ entered at #37. In addition to these streamers, TV brands with momentum this year include History (#12, up three spots), HGTV (#13, up three spots), Comedy Central (#19, first time in the Top 20 since 2015), and Hallmark, which has been steadily rising in the charts since 2016 and now landing in the #20 spot.
At the same time, although HBO Max is in the top 10 this year (#9), preference for this new streaming option cannibalized its linear brand HBO, which dropped to #25 from #12.
In the 18-34 young adult demo, Netflix maintains the #1 spot for the fifth year in a row, and HBO Max enters the charts at #6. Streaming services Apple TV+, Paramount+ and Peacock all debuted within the top 30 at #21, #22 and #25, respectively.
Meanwhile, on a total 12+ population basis, 62% of those interviewed included at least one of the big four networks (one or more of ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox) on their “must keep” channel list. While that is still two-thirds majority, it represents a 15-point drop from 77% who included at least one of these four on their lists in 2011, ten years ago.
The top four streamers (Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+) are must keep for 65% of those interviewed in 2021, slightly ahead of the big four broadcast nets at 62% as noted above. The only demographic group where the broadcast networks have a strong advantage is the 50+ age group, where 78% identify at least one of the broadcast nets as a “Must Keep” vs. 47% saying the same for one of the top four streamers.