'Streamflation' is Costing You. Here's How to Save Without Missing Your Favorite Shows
Subscribing to Netflix, Hulu and other popular services keeps getting more costly. Use our guide to watch the shows and movies you love at the right price.
Whether you spend your time in front of the TV watching sports, the news, the latest buzzy shows or reruns of your favorite sitcoms, you've probably noticed that you're shelling out more for your entertainment in recent years. Between March 2024 and March 2026, prices for subscription and rental of video and video games, which includes subscription streaming services, surged roughly 25%, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Costs are rising so much that the phenomenon even has a new nickname: “streamflation.” Netflix, the largest and most popular streaming service, hiked prices for all three of its subscription tiers in March for the second time in less than two years. In April, prices for Amazon Prime Video's ad-free tier increased by $2 per month. Many of the other major players, including Paramount+ and HBO Max, have also raised their prices within the past year.
A few more dollars here or there each month may not seem significant enough to take a large bite out of your budget, but it adds up. The average U.S. household spends $69 monthly on video-on-demand service subscriptions, according to data from Deloitte. That's $828 annually. Deloitte also found that almost three-fourths of consumers are frustrated that companies keep raising their prices.
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Unfortunately for viewers, the costs are likely to keep climbing. “We'll continue to see pricing going up for all streaming services, live and on demand,” says Dan Rayburn, an analyst in the streaming video industry. “Some don't do it yearly, but most do it like clockwork.”
The reason, he says, is that the cost to produce and license content continues to rise every year. Deep-pocketed companies such as Amazon and Disney are competing to snag hit shows, and the cost of that competition is trickling down to customers. In particular, the cost of licensing sports programming — an offering streaming services are increasingly looking to add — is “astronomical,” Rayburn says.
Last year, L.E.K. Consulting, a global strategy consulting firm, found that streaming platforms were expected to spend roughly $33 billion on obtaining rights to show national sports. In March, for instance, CNBC reported that the National Football League was asking Paramount+'s parent company for 50% more than the $2.1 billion it was already paying to show games.
These companies also pay attention to what their competitors are doing with their prices. “One increases the price, and that opens the door for everyone to increase the price,” says Christopher Hamilton, industry insights manager at Parrot Analytics. “The whole industry is shifting up.”
Although prices keep going up, you can make moves to fine-tune the selection of services you use and offset the hit to your wallet.
1. Consider your preferences.
Determine what you actually want to watch and whether you're getting it. Think about whether you prefer to see your favorite content the moment it comes out, too. Some families want to see sporting events live, which means they may want to opt for a sports-oriented streamer such as Peacock or a live-TV service such as YouTube TV or Fubo.
Other households may prioritize brand-new shows, which could make services that focus on original content, such as Apple TV, a good fit. If you're looking for children's programming, Disney+ or Netflix may be the way to go.
There are also specialized streamers that home in on specific corners of the market. For example, Crunchyroll's collection is made up of anime, and Shudder is for horror fans. BritBox exclusively offers British content, and Curiosity Stream focuses on documentaries.
2. Assess your budget.
Next, take a look at your budget, and add up the cost of streaming services you're paying for now. The amount of money you should allocate to entertainment will depend on your personal goals and financial situation, including your income and whether you have any debt.
If you need help, consider a popular budgeting strategy such as the 50/30/20 rule, which entails allocating 50% of your income to needs, 30% to wants (including entertainment) and 20% to savings. If streaming makes up a disproportionate amount of your budget, you can use some of the strategies here to trim your spending.
3. See what's available at no extra cost.
Your paid memberships with other services may provide access to certain streamers. For example, if you're a Walmart+ member, which offers free shipping from Walmart and other perks, you get access to either Paramount+ Essential or Peacock Premium with ads. Amazon Prime includes a Prime Video membership, and you can get Apple TV free for three months when you buy a new Apple device.
Don't forget to check your credit card perks. Those who have the Chase Sapphire Reserve card ($795 annual fee) can get Apple TV for free through June 2027, and the American Express Platinum card ($895) offers a monthly credit of up to $25 that you can use on a slew of streaming services, including Disney+, ESPN, Hulu, Paramount+, Peacock and YouTube TV.
And some streamers won't cost you anything at all. Tubi, The Roku Channel and Pluto TV offer large collections of free TV shows and movies (though you'll have to contend with ads). Through your local library, you may be able to borrow TV shows and movies to stream to your devices for free via Hoopla.
4. Take advantage of free trials.
Family watching television in living room
When you're starting a new service, see whether it offers a free trial. This can be especially beneficial if you want to watch a specific show, because you may be able to finish it before the trial is over. Though Netflix, Disney+ and HBO Max don't offer free trials, many of the other services do, including Discovery+ and Mubi, which deems itself a place to find “ambitious films and series by visionary filmmakers.”
You don't always have to be new to using a service to get a free trial. Hulu, for example, doles out free trials to members who haven't subscribed in a year.
5. Bundle.
You can often snag cheaper prices via bundles, which combine several services, such as internet, phone, cable and streaming. For instance, T-Mobile customers who use qualifying phone plans can get Netflix and Hulu's standard tiers with ads for free, as well as a $3-per-month discount on Apple TV. Verizon offers discounted prices on Netflix and HBO Max with ads alongside select mobile and home internet plans.
Spectrum TV's cable-TV service offers local networks and sports, depending on the plan, plus a wide range of streaming services, including HBO Max, Peacock, Hulu and ESPN. When you use certain plans from Xfinity, you'll also get Disney+ and Hulu. Plus, Peacock Premium is included for three years.
Some streaming services themselves also bundle. By getting Disney+ and Hulu with no ads together, for instance, you can save 47% compared with what you'd pay by purchasing the two services separately.
6. Pause services when you're not using them.
Your preferences may change from month to month. If everyone is talking about a new television show you want to watch, or your favorite reality series is airing just for a few months, you can temporarily sign up for the streamer that carries it. (Several years ago, Disney+ saw a surge in subscriptions when The Mandalorian aired, then those figures plateaued, Rayburn says.) If you're not getting exactly what you want, when you want it, cancel or pause your service.
“It's very easy to cancel these services,” Rayburn says, adding that it may take a little more effort to cancel live-TV services than on-demand ones. (You often need to talk to a representative on the phone to discontinue a live-TV plan rather than go online.) “We see this all the time where consumers sign up for it, they watch what they want to for a couple of months, and then they leave it.”
When you subscribe to a new service, set a calendar reminder for a date just before it automatically renews. (Double-check the terms of each service so you don't cancel too late. Amazon, for example, says that if you get Prime Video as an add-on subscription through Apple, you need to cancel 24 hours before your subscription renews to ensure you won't be charged.) Once that reminder goes off, cancel your service if you no longer plan to use it, or pause it if you may want to return to it within a few months.
Just remember that if you pause, you could be automatically charged once the break from service ends. The rules around pausing also vary. For example, Netflix lets you pause for one month at a time, for up to three months, as long as you're not on the basic plan, while Hulu lets you pause up to three months in one go. You can typically do this easily online from your account-management page.
7. Downgrade your services.
Most platforms have tiered offerings, so you may be paying more than you need to watch the shows and movies you love.
Take Netflix. The streamer's Premium tier costs $26.99, but you can save $7 monthly, or $84 annually, by downgrading to the Standard tier while still getting all the same content with no ads in exchange for slightly lower video quality (Rayburn says only “video-quality nerds” would notice the difference) and fewer downloads and supported devices; the number of extra members you can add to the account is also smaller. Jumping from the Premium tier to Standard With Ads will save you $18 each month, or $216 for the year.
Sometimes, you can also save by buying an annual membership instead of a monthly one. With HBO Max, for instance, doing so can save you 16% on all tiers. Note, however, that this strategy prevents you from using the cancel-or-pause method mentioned above.
8. Share memberships.
Streaming services have cracked down on sharing passwords with people outside your household, but you can often add extra members to your account at a discounted rate. This means you can split the bill with a family member or friend, even if they're across the country.
With the ad-supported version of Disney+, for example, you can add an extra member to your account for just $6.99 monthly, or $9.99 monthly if you subscribe to Disney+ Premium, with no ads. If you and the extra member sign up for your own accounts separately, you'd each pay $11.99 monthly for the tier with ads and $18.99 for the one with no ads. By adding an extra member to one account and splitting the cost, you could each pay just $9.49 or $14.49, respectively.
Should you switch back to cable?
As TV-streaming services gained popularity, many people dropped their cable subscription. Among U.S. adults, 83% say they use streaming services, while just 36% have cable or satellite TV, according to a report published last year by Pew Research Center. But as streamers steadily raise their prices, and as consumers subscribe to several separate platforms to get all the content they want, these services are becoming more akin to cable, with some of the same frustrations that customers were trying to avoid when they cut the cord in the first place.
“History repeats itself,” says Christopher Hamilton, industry insights manager at Parrot Analytics. “This accumulation of individual fees results in a total bill that is high, causing ‘subscription fatigue' and effectively re-creating a high monthly outlay similar to cable.”
But he wouldn't necessarily recommend that most viewers switch back to cable. Despite rising prices, most people can ultimately structure a better deal with live-TV streaming services, mainly because they have the flexibility to tailor plans to their specific needs.
“The massive advantage is the ability to easily drop and resubscribe for a period without penalty,” Hamilton says, adding that cable often has extra complications and costs — such as contracts, equipment rentals and cancellation fees — that make it difficult to stop and restart service to save money.
“With streaming, a customer can subscribe for a three-month sports season and then cancel immediately, which is a powerful cost-cutting tool.” Streaming services also often allow greater customization, providing smaller channel packages or add-ons, whereas cable often forces broad, predetermined tiers.
That said, cable still makes sense for some people. For instance, you may not be able to watch certain local sports on live-TV streaming platforms, depending on where you live. Juggling multiple streaming apps and interfaces, each with different navigation and billing, can also be complicated, especially compared with the simplicity of a single cable box and bill.
Compare your streaming options
Choosing which streaming services suit your needs at the best price requires a little homework. Here's a breakdown of some of the most popular choices.
Price: $8.99 monthly for Standard With Ads; $19.99 monthly for Standard; $26.99 monthly for Premium Netflix is considered the king of streaming thanks to its large video library, including original hits such as Stranger Things and Squid Game, and even some live programming, such as certain Major League Baseball games. Hamilton, of Parrot Analytics, assesses streamers' content offerings and customer demand to understand which services offer the best deals, and he says Netflix is one of the greatest values on the market, just behind the Disney+/Hulu bundle.
Price: $10.99 monthly for Basic With Ads; $18.49 monthly for Standard; $22.99 monthly for Premium HBO Max has all of HBO's content, plus DC Universe films, Warner Bros. films and a slew of prestige original content. It's also home to old favorites, recently including Friends.
Price: $11.99 monthly for Hulu (with ads); $18.99 monthly for Hulu Premium Hulu's on-demand subscription service has popular original content, including The Handmaid's Tale, but you can also catch various shows from major networks such as ABC, Fox and FX just after they air.
Price: $11.99 monthly for Disney+ (with ads); $18.99 monthly for Disney+ Premium Are you a fan of the Star Wars franchise or Marvel, Disney and Pixar movies? Then Disney+ is the service for you. If you're going to go with this family-friendly streaming option, consider its bundle with Hulu.
Price: Included in an Amazon Prime membership, which is $14.99 monthly or $139 yearly; additional $4.99 monthly with no ads Amazon's streaming service has a large catalog of TV shows and movies, as well as original shows. Plus, during the NFL season, it airs Thursday night football games.
Price: $12.99 monthly with no ads Apple TV is all about exclusive content, including hits such as Severance and Ted Lasso. But it also streams live Major League Baseball games on Friday nights, and you can catch Major League Soccer matches and Formula 1 racing live, too. It's one of the few streamers that doesn't have a lower-cost tier with ads, though you can bundle it with Peacock for just $2 extra.
Price: $8.99 monthly for Paramount+ Essential (with ads); $13.99 monthly for Paramount+ Premium Paramount+ is home to more than 40,000 TV episodes and movies from CBS, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and more. It also hosts all of Showtime's movies and series, and you can catch live NFL games and UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) fights, too.
Price: $7.99 monthly for Select (with ads); $10.99 monthly for Premium (with ads and more content than Select); $16.99 monthly for Premium Plus Peacock is NBCUniversal's streaming service, with hits from NBC and Bravo, such as The Real Housewives franchise, as well as original content. With the Premium and Premium Plus tiers, you can also see live sports.
Live TV
Price: Genre packs start at $19.99 monthly; streaming packages start at $89.99 monthly DirecTV still offers satellite TV, with packages ranging from $77.99 to $169.99 per month. But separately, it also offers live-TV streaming and five “genre packs”: kids' television, sports, Spanish channels, news and entertainment. The streaming packages offer a broad mix of channels, including local stations, depending on which one you choose.
Price: $89.99 monthly for live TV, Hulu's on-demand content, Disney+ and ESPN Select with ads; $99.99 monthly with no ads Hulu's live-TV service offers more than 95 channels, from news to sports to comedy to local networks. And you get access to a host of on-demand content, too.
Price: $19.99 monthly to $60.99 monthly, depending on the package With Sling, you get live TV and sports in addition to movies on-demand. The Sling Select package includes about 10 channels, including NFL Network, National Geographic and FS1. Other packages include more channels at higher monthly prices.
Price: $82.99 monthly for YouTube TV; $64.99 monthly for Sports Plan YouTube TV calls itself “cable reimagined,” and it offers access to more than 100 live and on-demand channels, including ABC, CBS and FX. You can also get add-ons such as MGM+, Shudder and HBO Max. The Sports Plan offers viewers access to a more limited selection of major broadcast networks, such as Fox and NBC, as well as sports-focused channels, including ESPN and FS1.
Note: This item first appeared in Kiplinger Personal Finance Magazine, a monthly, trustworthy source of advice and guidance. Subscribe to help you make more money and keep more of the money you make here.
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