June is the battle of the streamers, but who will win?

Streamers are often competing for our attention, offering up new shows, films, and other content to keep subscribers happy, and June is set to become something of a battlefield for them.

The summer blockbuster season may be upon us, but viewers could well choose to stay at home instead given what's set to come their way on the small screen. They can hardly be blamed if they do, because House of the Dragon, The Boys, The Bear, and Bridgerton are all returning, and new Star Wars series The Acolyte is also coming out.

With the release of all these shows one has to wonder, which streaming platform will come out triumphant? Will it be juggernauts like Netflix or Prime Video? Or will it be Disney+, or Sky?

Let's look at the release schedule for all these shows to begin with, firstly The Acolyte has just launched on Disney+. As a new chapter in the Star Wars franchise it is likely to have good innings on the platform, especially given the loyal fanbase the franchise has.

The series centres on the High Republic era, a time period that is relatively new to fans —at least in terms of live-action films and TV shows— and it centres on an intriguing new story about twins Mae and Osha (Amandla Stenberg), and the rise of a dark force during the Jedi Order's peak. Getting to explore something different to the Skywalker saga will no doubt be a draw to Star Wars fans, especially those who have an awareness of the novels set within the High Republic era.

The show marks a new and exciting chapter for Star Wars, and with a weekly release model it's the kind of series that has potential to keep growing week on week. However, there is the chance viewers won't want to tune in precisely because it isn't directly related to the Skywalker saga — but any Star Wars content is good Star Wars, right?

Read more: The Acolyte cast hail Amandla Stenberg as an ‘amazing leading woman’

Disney+'s decision to release The Acolyte at the start of the month seems a smart move, especially when one considers the second week of June. Why, you ask? The Boys season 4 is launching on Prime Video on Thursday, 13 June with its first three episodes, and Bridgerton season 3 part 2 is coming to Netflix on the same day.

On paper it may seem like Bridgerton and The Boys won't have fans in common, but let's not jump to conclusions too quickly. It's true they cater to different tastes, what with one being a romantic period drama and the other a gory superhero tale, but there's nothing to say viewers won't want to tune into both on 13 June.

Both series are huge hits so pitting them against each other will be interesting to say the least. The Netflix show is still riding high following the release of part one in May, and has topped the global Top 10 TV list for three weeks with only four episodes.

Given the cliffhanger that viewers were left on in part one, and Netflix's binge drop model, it seems perfectly possible for viewers to clamour to watch it as soon as possible.

Read more: Bridgerton season 3's success proves the critics wrong

Meanwhile, The Boys has grown its audience year on year and will likely do the same now it's entering its fourth season will all guns still blazing. In a world of Marvel, DC, and a general feeling of superhero fatigue, the blood-soaked series changed the genre by turning the gore, sex, and violence up to 11. The series has only continued to emphasise this focus, giving viewers more of the same but doing well because of it.

Both these shows will be followed shortly by the premiere of House of the Dragon season 2, which lands on Monday, 17 June on Sky and NOW for UK viewers (in the US it'll be on HBO at the same time, but because of the time difference it'll be Sunday, 16 June there).

House of the Dragon has a similar appeal to The Boys because of its penchant for sex and violence, but the show's success can largely be attributed to the legacy of its predecessor. The HBO prequel series also did the impossible, it managed to undo the damage done by the Game of Thrones finale and bring new viewers into George R.R. Martin's fantasy world through a fresh perspective.

Season one was hugely successful during its run, practically blowing The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power out of the water at the time. It dominated conversation and kept growing every week a new episode was released.

The Boys is premiering with its first three episodes and will then continue airing weekly, whereas House of the Dragon is airing weekly from the get go. In terms of longevity, both are likely to dominate conversation like they did in previous years and their weekly release schedule means viewers will keep going back to it.

Arguably they'll do better than Bridgerton, simply because Netflix's binge-release model means viewers will watch the new episodes and move on. Though that's not to say that fans won't choose to watch episodes on repeat, and Netflix has a huge subscriber base.

This brings us to the end of the month, and the release of The Bear season 3. The prestige show will be landing on Disney+ as a binge release on 27 June, meaning that fans can close out the month by catching up on the series and the goings on of chef Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) and his team.

The Bear's release for season 3 is notably different to previous years, episodes were previously released on a weekly basis and viewers in the UK were only able to watch the show a few months after those in the US. Now it's being made available to both UK and US viewers at the same time, this will no doubt help bolster the success of the show as a whole.

Given The Bear is being released after the launch of every other big series in June it stands in good stead to do well. The show was a word-of-mouth hit and has become bigger with each season, so with all eyes on the series now it seems reasonable to think it'll attract a lot of viewers even if the binge model will may make it less likely to be a longterm water cooler topic.

Disney+'s decision to bookend the month with two of its biggest shows may well pay off, but our money's on Prime Video and Sky dominating things because of the strength of The Boys and House of the Dragon as titles. The Bear and Bridgerton will no doubt also do well, but only time will tell whether the binge model or weekly release will prove more effective.

But you know who will really win in June? Viewers, because they get the chance to enjoy all these shows at once (at least if they have a subscription to every streamer).