Streaming Power Rankings March 2022: HBO Max Mounts a Comeback

At the end of each month, Primetimer's Joe Reid surveys the undulating fortunes of the eight major streaming platforms for our Streaming Power Rankings.

Apple TV+ managed to top last month's streaming power rankings, thanks to a strong launch for Severance and a slew of high profile announcements, but March has been quite a bit more competitive, with a pair of hotly anticipated premieres from Netflix (Bridgerton season 2!) and Paramount (Halo!) proving to be surprisingly vulnerable to pirate and porn comedies from HBO Max and a Damon Linfelof announcement at Peacock.

A reminder: our rankings are calculated based on the following criteria: new shows (i.e. shows that premiered, or premiered new seasons), projects that were announced, and bonus points (and/or demerits) that take into account things like high-profile cancellations, awards attention, or significant good/bad buzz.

On to this month's rankings:

1. HBO MAX

Previous Rank: 7

Premieres: Although it was without any huge headline-grabbing premieres this month, HBO Max scored with a handful of middle-tier projects that turned out to be quite good. Our Flag Means Death, the pirate comedy featuring Rhys Darby and Taika Waititi, has been a huge crowd-pleaser, and period porn comedy Minx (read our review) is well on its way to becoming the same. The second season of Starstruck has the potential for leveling up as a well-reviewed if still somewhat under-the-radar series. And while it doesn't premiere until the very end of the month, the Julia Child series Julia (read our review) is also big on potential. Grade: A

Projects Announced: Tim Robinson (I Think You Should Leave) is bringing his next comedy, Computer School, to HBO Max. And while it's still a couple years away, we got the announcement of an animated Charlotte's Web series. Grade: B+

Bonus Points/Demerits: The announcement of a second season for And Just Like That showed just how much fans were excited for the oft-maligned Sex and the City continuation. Meanwhile, Raised by Wolves ended its second season with some serious "best show you're not watching" sentiment from critics. Grade: A-

2. Peacock

Previous Rank: 4

Premieres: Peacock premiered Joe vs Carole at the top of the month, which got it a lot of attention... much of it not very positive. Better received was Below Deck Down Under, the spinoff of the Bravo reality series. Grade: B

Projects Announced: A new series from Damon Lindelof (Lost, The Leftovers, Watchmen) called Mrs. Davis is a huge win for the platform, and that's before even getting into that it's a techno-religious epic drama starring Betty Gilpin as a nun. There's also The Resort, a comedic thriller from the writer of Palm Springs starring William Jackson Harper and Cristin Milioti; Renee Zellweger in the World War II aviation drama Avenger Field; and 15 Candles, a quinceañera-themed update on Sixteen Candles from producers Selena Gomez, Tanya Saracho, and Gabriela Revilla Lugo. Grade: A

Bonus Points/Demerits: A season 2 premiere date for Girls5Eva — May 5th! — is great news for everyone. Grade: A-

3. Hulu

Previous Rank: 2

Premieres: In a month when the glut of shows about scammers in the tech and business fields was a big story, Hulu's The Dropout (read our review) was pretty consistently held up as The Good One, which is both good for Hulu and bad for everyone else. Other premieres weren't quite as shiny, but the Amy Schumer series Life and Beth and the Elle Fanning-starring The Girl from Plainville (read our review) gave Hulu's monthly offerings some heft. Grade: A-

Projects Announced: Mae Whitman is going to star in Up Here, an NYC-based musical rom-com, featuring songs from Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, and directed by Hamilton's Thomas Kail. They also ordered a pilot for Bammas, a comedy produced by Ramy Youffel (Ramy), and are planning a Putin/Zelensky documentary from George Stephanopoulos. Grade: B

Bonus Points/Demerits: A quick June return date for Only Murders in the Building is an exciting announcement… provided the second season doesn't feel rushed. Grade: B+

4. Netflix

Previous Rank: 5

Premieres: The big dog this month was obviously Bridgerton's second season, and although the reviews were almost inevitably a bit more tepid this time around, it still managed to pull impressive numbers in its first weekend. There was also the disappointment of the Toni Collette-starring Pieces of Her, which landed with a thud. Buttressing these were some docuseries that managed to catch on, like Worst Roommate Ever and Bad Vegan, the dumb-but-fun game show Is It Cake?, and the successful Big Mouth spinoff Human Resources. Grade: B+

Projects Announced: Another Shondaland series is on the way with The Residence, a muder-mystery set in the White House. Translatlantic is an upcoming World War II limited series from the creator of Unorthodox. Treason is an upcoming spy series that will star Ciaran Hinds (Belfast) and Charlie Cox (Daredevil). And Richard Armitage and Indira Varma will star in a series adaptation of the 1992 erotic drama Damage. Grade: A-

Bonus Points/Demerits: Cancelling The Baby-Sitters Club after two seasons was bad enough, but the bad press after the creator of the show basically said "we had good ratings, but that wasn't enough" was worse. Grade: C-

5. Apple TV+

Previous Rank: 1

Premieres: If Hulu's The Dropout was The Good One among the grifter shows, Apple's WeCrashed (read our review), starring Jared Leto and Anne Hathaway was one of the not-so-good ones. There were better notices for Pachinko, the Korean immigrant saga starring Youn Yuh-jung, and Samuel L. Jackson's The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey. Also returning with new episodes were animated series Central Park and news series The Problem with Jon Stewart. Grade: B-

Projects Announced: Not too many, but giving Sam Esmail (Mr. Robot, Homecoming) the reins on a series version of Fritz Lang's Metropolis certainly got our attention. Grade: B

Bonus Points/Demerits: Apple will move into the realm of live sports this summer with Major League Baseball games on Friday nights. Also, it's not television, but Apple snagging the Best Picture trophy at the Oscars for CODA is a rising tide that should lift all boats. Grade: B+

6. Amazon Prime

Previous Rank: 3

Premieres: The Boys Presents: Diabolical wasn't exactly on the same level of hype or acclaim as its parent show. Lizzo got good notice for her series Lizzo's Watch Out for the Big Grrrls. Amy Poehler's documentary on Lucy and Desi probably would have drum up more interest if Being the Ricardos had been a stronger Oscar presence. Grade: C+

Projects Announced: The big news is that there is a Fleabag follow-up series from Phoebe Waller-Bridge on the way, although probably not til next year. Otherwise, it's a James Bond reality competition and a Dr. Seuss-themed cooking show. Grade: B+

Bonus Points/Demerits: The great Al Michaels and also Kirk Herbstreit have been named as the announcing team for Amazon's Thursday Night Football broadcasts this year. Grade: B

7. Disney+

Previous Rank: 6

Premieres: It premiered too late in the month to get a solid bead on where it will land, but Moon Knight wasn't initially met with the kinds of raves that earlier series like WandaVision, Loki, and Hawkeye were. Grade: B-

Projects Announced: The Full Monty, the 1997 British comedy that became an indie sensation and an Oscar nominee for Best Picture, is getting a series adaptation starring the original cast, including Robert Carlyle, Tom Wilkinson, and Mark Addy. Grade: B

Bonus Points/Demerits: D+ added what's being called the Defenders Saga this month. That'd be all the Marvel TV series that were originally made for Netflix: Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, The Punisher, and The Defenders. Grade: B

8. Paramount+

Previous Rank: 8

Premieres: A robust programming month by Paramount's standards, with the second season of Star Trek: Picard and the premiere of Halo. The latter series was the beneficiary of a huge amount of hype and a place of prominence in Paramount's marketing, but it'll be a while before we know whether Halo is the kind of hit Paramount needs it to be. Grade: B

Projects Announced: It's not good news here, as Tom Cruise reportedly put the kibosh on proposed series adaptations of Mission: Impossible and Days of Thunder. Grade: C

Bonus Points/Demerits: The Vampire Diaries actor Paul Wesley was cast as the new Captain Kirk on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, an announcement that prompted a near-universal "let's wait and see on that one." Grade: B-

Joe Reid is the senior writer at Primetimer and co-host of the This Had Oscar Buzz podcast. His work has appeared in Decider, NPR, HuffPost, The Atlantic, Slate, Polygon, Vanity Fair, Vulture, The A.V. Club and more.