A few weeks back, I casually mentioned that one of the major streamers was competing for “fourth or fifth place” in the streaming wars. And a few folks asked me how I calculated that. Something along the lines of, “Hey, you love data. What’s your proof?”

Fair question.

And it got me thinking. I collect lots and lots of data each week on streaming. Why not bring it all to bear on the question of…

Who is currently winning the streaming wars?

A word of warning: there is no one way to measure who is winning. Do we mean who has the most users? The most revenue? The most revenue per user? The most top shows? The most viewing? Do we mean the U.S. or globally? Do we compare unique streamers — is Hulu separate from Disney+? Is Paramount+ separate from Showtime? — or combine them by company? Do we focus on “just streaming” or “all filmed entertainment”?

Your definition of who is “winning” depends a lot on what questions you ask and how you answer them.