上周，亞馬遜（Amazon）宣布開放Prime的月度會員服務，借此與視頻點播的競爭對手進行更直接的抗衡。不過，眾所周知，流媒體服務總是閉口不談自己究竟能提供多少內容，那我們又如何肯定哪種選擇才是最好的？

謝天謝地，美國全國廣播公司財經頻道（CNBC）的馬克?費伊對亞馬遜和奈飛（Netflix）的視頻數量和質量進行了極其細致的對比，并得到了一些真相——其中許多都不符合我們的直覺。

CNBC的初步統計發現，亞馬遜Prime的視頻比奈飛公司更多，用戶給它們的評分也要更高。但正如主持人埃里克?謝米所說，你需要看到原始數據之外的東西。

事實證明，亞馬遜上有約900個視頻的長度都不到10分鐘，奈飛的短視頻卻只有30個。而且亞馬遜的許多視頻可能只有很少的受眾——例如，CNBC選取了一段九分半鐘的動畫視頻，這個視頻的目的是教會小孩讀懂地圖上的X/Y軸。

該視頻得到了五星評價——不過評論只有一條，而五顆星就是這么來的。CNBC發現亞馬遜的視頻中，有許多都只有一條評論。他們還發現針對同樣的視頻內容，亞馬遜的用戶傾向于給出更高的評分，這也拉大了對兩個公司視頻整體質量的印象分。

這是否意味著亞馬遜試圖欺騙用戶？不一定。不過這確實意味著，把奈飛和亞馬遜的視頻內容進行直接比較很困難。再考慮到亞馬遜Prime會員不僅可以看視頻、聽音樂——當然還有最重要的，享受免費快遞，兩家的取舍就更加復雜了。

這種直接比較的困難，讓奈飛打造獨家優質內容的策略顯得十分明智，也解釋了為什么亞馬遜要推出《透明家庭》（Transparent）和《叢林中的莫扎特》（Mozart in the Jungle）等電視劇，從而嘗試與對手在同一維度競爭。(財富中文網)

譯者：嚴匡正

Last week, Amazon announced a monthly Prime option to compete more directly with its streaming rivals. But with streaming services notoriously close-mouthed about exactly how much content they offer, how can you decide which option is best for you?

Thankfully, Mark Fahey at CNBC has done anobsessively granular comparison of the amount and quality of video available for streaming on Amazonand Netflix. And he came up with some real insights—many counterintuitive.

CNBC’s initial tally found that Amazon Prime streaming has more titles than Netflix, and that more of them had high ratings from users. But, as host Eric Chemi puts it, you gotta go beyond the raw numbers.

Around 900 titles on Amazon, it turns out, are under 10 minutes long, compared to just 30 short titles on Netflix. And Amazon’s videos include many that are likely to have pretty narrow appeal—as an example, CNBC excerpts a nine and a half minute animated video teaching kids how to read X/Y coordinates on a map.

That video does have a five-star rating—but it’s based on just a single review. CNBC found that a lot of Amazon ratings were based on just a single user review. They also found that Amazon users gave the same content a higher rating than Netflix users did, inflating the impression of overall quality.

Does all this mean Amazon is trying to snow users? Not particularly. But it does mean that directly comparing the content on Netflix and Amazon is tough, if not impossible. That complicates an already tricky decision, considering that Amazon Prime membership can bundle video, music—and of course free shipping, the real jewel in the crown.

The difficulty of a direct comparison makes Netflix’s strategy of building its brand on premium, exclusive content look very smart—and explains why Amazon, with shows like Transparent and Mozart in the Jungle, is trying to chart the same course.