Netflix is no longer the top dog of streaming services. For the first time in over a decade, the streaming juggernaut reported a decrease in subscribers. This could be for a variety of reasons; some point to Netflix cracking down on password sharing.

Personally, I would also point to a general decrease in the quality of Netflix’s in-house originals. Another huge driving factor of this is having a new, flashier and overall far more impressive competitor in the purple corner: HBO Max. 

Launched on May 27, 2020, HBO Max has already surpassed 76.8 million users as of April 1. For comparison, Netflix currently has 221.64 million users over the course of a decade. 

In its first year of release, HBO Max made sure to come out of the gate swinging, boasting an extensive library of DC Comics movies and TV shows, and every HBO original ever, including classics like “The Sopranos,” “The Wire” and “Game of Thrones.” 

As the year progressed, new originals were released. Among them were “The Flight Attendant,” “Generation,” “Raised By Wolves,” and newly-adopted originals like “Doom Patrol” and “Harley Quinn.” 

What really shot HBO Max into the stratosphere was 2021, which saw day-and-date releases of Warner Brothers movies in theaters and on the streaming services. 

Some notable movies that were part of this plan included “Mortal Kombat,” “Godzilla vs. Kong,” “The Suicide Squad,” “Dune,” “King Richard” and “The Matrix Resurrections,” with “Wonder Woman 1984” and “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” being released on the service during this time as well, while not being explicitly in the day-and-date plan. 

I don’t know about you, but that sounds a whole lot better than “Tall Girl 2.” 

As Netflix continues to lose properties to other companies starting their own streaming services, they have resorted to trying to pump out the most movies and TV shows as they can, instead of putting out the best movies and TV shows they can. 

HBO Max finds success in being able to put content that is high quality on the service, at a pace that is just as fast as the content is good. 

This year already, HBO Max has released a new season of “Euphoria,” the first season of “Peacemaker,” “Tokyo Vice” and has become the exclusive home of “The Batman,” which is arguably the hottest commodity on the market right now. 

But yeah, how about another season of “Big Mouth.” 

Netflix’s best content comes from their third-parties, or to put it another way: the stuff that Netflix either doesn’t make, or buys and slaps their name on, is typically their best stuff. For example, “Seinfeld,” “Roma,” “The Power of the Dog” and “Cobra Kai.” 

The worst part is the good Netflix originals are the stuff they cancel like, “Daredevil,” “Mindhunter” and “American Vandal,” all critically acclaimed and adored, but canceled after three seasons or less. 

The future is even brighter for HBO Max, with all Warner Brothers theatrical films being put on the service after 45 days in theaters, and let’s do a quick rundown of the original programming currently in development for the service. 

Another season of “Euphoria,” a new “Dune” TV show, a “Batgirl” movie, a “Clone High” revival, a “The Batman” spin-off focused on “The Penguin,” a new “Game of Thrones” spin-off, a new “Evil Dead” movie, and a “Green Lantern” series, just to name a few. 

All of those, plus what is already on HBO Max, only shows me that if I have to pick and choose where my money is going in the future, and I have to decide between one streaming service versus others, HBO Max has my dollar.