license: cc-by-4.0
pretty_name: >-
Crawlora Streaming Fragmentation Index: where the most-popular US titles
stream
tags:
- streaming
- justwatch
- svod
- movies-and-tv
Streaming Fragmentation Index — data
Where the most-watched movies and TV shows in the US actually stream — and how scattered, exclusive, and expensive that has become. Two open snapshots (June 2026):
- Popular-100 — the 100 most-popular titles (top 50 movies + 50 shows), the demand-weighted head of the market.
- Broad ~5,000 — a 5,047-title cross-section pulled across every genre and decade.
It is the dataset behind the Crawlora study "How Many Streaming Subscriptions Do You Need in 2026?". Every title's full list of ways-to-watch (offers) was pulled via Crawlora's JustWatch endpoints and each offer mapped to the service behind it.
Files
| file | rows | description |
|---|---|---|
data/popular-titles.csv |
100 | per-title availability for the 100 most-popular US titles |
data/broad-titles.csv |
5,047 | per-title availability for the ~5,000-title cross-section |
data/popular-summary.json |
— | aggregates for popular-100 (fragmentation, exclusivity, monetization, overlap, cost) |
data/broad-summary.json |
— | aggregates for the broad corpus |
CSV schema (one row per title)
| column | meaning |
|---|---|
id |
JustWatch title id (tm… movie / ts… show) |
title, year, type |
title, release year, movie or show |
num_subscription_services |
# of distinct standalone streaming services carrying it |
has_subscription |
on ≥1 subscription service |
exclusive |
on exactly one subscription service |
rent_buy_only |
no subscription — rent/buy only |
cinema_only |
no subscription/rent/buy — in theaters only |
subscription_services |
pipe-joined service brands (standalone OTT; ad-tier/quality/reseller variants collapsed to parent) |
monetization_types |
pipe-joined offer types seen (FLATRATE/ADS/RENT/BUY/FREE/FAST/CINEMA) |
Headline findings (June 2026, US)
Popular-100
- 14 distinct streaming services carry the 100 most-popular titles; you'd need 11 subscriptions to watch all 74 that are on a subscription — and 26 of 100 aren't on any subscription (rent/buy or still in theaters).
- The Big Four (Netflix, Disney+, Max, Prime Video) cover 51%. 51% of titles are exclusive to a single service.
- All 11 services ad-free ≈ $152/mo (~$1,829/yr); even the Big Four ad-free ≈ $70/mo.
- Shows 98% on a subscription vs movies 50% (the movie gap is new-theatrical release-window timing).
Broad ~5,000
- Content scatters across 93 distinct streaming services; 60.7% of titles are exclusive to one. A concentrated head (6 services cover 80% of what's streamable) and a very long tail (65 services to cover all of it).
- Netflix dominates exclusives — 1,220, more than the next four services combined. Big Four cover 59.5%.
- Movies 70% / shows 89% on a subscription; ~21% on no subscription.
Method (brief)
For each title, JustWatch offers were pulled — justwatch_popular for the head; justwatch_discover
fanned across genre × year for the cross-section (each call ≤50 results, no offset, deduped by id).
Each offer's provider is classified into a service class — standalone OTT subscription / live-TV
bundle (vMVPD) / free ad-supported channel (FAST) / single-network cable-login app / rent-buy store
(TVOD) / cinema — and ad-tier, quality (SD/HD/4K), and reseller-channel ("… Apple TV/Amazon Channel")
variants are collapsed to the parent brand. "Subscriptions needed" counts only standalone retail
streaming services; a greedy set-cover gives the fewest services to reach 50/80/100% of the streamable
titles. Subscription prices are US list prices (mid-2026), the one input not from JustWatch. The data comes
from Crawlora's JustWatch API; the study writeup
documents the full method.
Caveats
- Point-in-time snapshot (June 2026), US storefront — offers change weekly and by country.
- Popularity-stratified, not a census — the broad corpus is the popular head across genres and decades, so every concentration figure is a floor; the true long tail is even more fragmented.
- The movie / no-subscription gap is largely release-window timing (new theatrical), not permanent lock-out.
- ~29 obscure/regional providers in the broad corpus are left unclassified (they appear in the data and affect a small number of titles).
- Subscription prices are hand-maintained list prices; treat dollar figures as current-as-of-June-2026.
- No quality claim — only where, and at what cost, you can watch what's popular.
How to cite
This repo ships a CITATION.cff, so GitHub shows a "Cite this repository" button.
Plain text:
Crawlora (2026). Crawlora Streaming Fragmentation Index: where the most-popular US titles stream (v1.0.0) [Data set]. https://github.com/Crawlora-org/streaming-fragmentation-data
Data collection & ethics
- Public availability metadata only. Each record is the public "where to watch" listing for a title — the same information a viewer sees. No page content is republished and no authentication was bypassed.
- No personal data — titles, services, prices, and availability flags only.
- Point-in-time. Treat as a snapshot, not a live availability feed.
License
Data is licensed CC BY 4.0 — free to use, share and adapt with attribution to Crawlora
(https://crawlora.net), a link to this repository, and an indication of changes. See LICENSE.
Generated with Crawlora's JustWatch API.