Streaming was supposed to save us money, but it's getting more expensive. Here's what it costs in 2023.
Netflix is reportedly raising prices, and they're not the only ones.
There was a time, not so many years ago, when cable was declared dead because consumers were fed up with paying too much for too long. We were stuck in a system of one-size-fits-all programming that required us to pay for, say, CNN when all we wanted was MTV. Not to mention that we were stuck using the cable provider that covered our area, regardless of what we preferred.
Streaming, it seemed, would end all that, allowing viewers to pick and choose a more narrow selection of channels, ones they would actually watch. Better yet, they didn't require contracts. But more than 15 years after streaming became a thing — a moment marked by the launch of YouTube in 2005, and a decade since Netflix snagged the first Emmy nod for a streamer, signaling that it would be a serious player in the TV space — that's not exactly what has happened.
Consumer research group J.D. Power found that "subscribers may be nearing their limit with how many subscriptions they carry and what they spend," in November. According to a survey of 1,287 U.S. adults, 60 percent of them had at least four services. The average monthly household reported spending $54 on them each month. That number is expected to continue inching up.
The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Netflix plans to raise prices "a few months" after the ongoing actors strike comes to an end. Mashable noted that the company has implemented hikes of $1 to $2 a couple of times per year semi-regularly.
Notably, customer satisfaction with Netflix has gone down, according to Whip Media's 2023 Customer Satisfaction Report, a survey of 2,011 U.S. adults conducted in July. The latest version of the annual survey found that there was overall less satisfaction with top-tier streamers such as Netflix, while satisfaction with the rest, the services in the middle tier, rose because of "improvements in content quality, variety and product value." While Netflix specifically was praised for its user experience and for its suggestions to customers, ranking first among streamers, consumers placed it last when it came to "perceived value."
Netflix did not respond to Yahoo Entertainment's request for comment.
Still, the company is not alone if it does bump up the price. Other streamers have announced their own increases in the past year.
Here's a breakdown of what plans for some of the most popular services cost compared to how much cable generally costs in 2023, according to their websites. It should be noted that many offer extra channels or a live TV stream for a higher fee.
Netflix
The standard plan, featuring ad-free movies and TV shows, is $15.49/month, while there is a cheaper one with ads ($6.99) as well as a premium package ($19.99).
Hulu
Although there are options for bundling Hulu with Disney+ or ESPN+ at a discount, the standard package for Hulu with ads is $7.99 per month, or $14.99 per month with no ads, although that price will change to $17.99 per month beginning Oct. 12. The Hulu+ Live TV option is currently $49.99 monthly for the first three months and $76.99 after that. Add-ons, such as Starz or Showtime, are also available for an additional cost.
Max
Big fan of And Just Like That...? Your viewing options are $9.99 per month with ads or $99.99 per year, $15.99 per month ad-free (or $149.99/year) and $19.99 per month (or $199.99/year) for Ultimate Ad-Free, which gives subscribers the best video and sound experience and more options to download content.
Apple TV+
The caveat with this one is that it comes free for three months when you buy an Apple device or with certain other Apple bundles, but the TV subscription alone runs $6.99 a month.
Prime Video
A subscription to Amazon's streaming service is a perk for members of its Prime offering. (That's $14.99 a month/$139 annually and includes free shipping and more). However, if you're solely interested in Prime Video, the cost is $8.99 per month.
Peacock
The rate to watch Poker Face (which you definitely should) is $5.99/month or $59.99/year or, for fewer ads, $11.99/month or $119.99/year.
Disney+
Again, you can package this with Hulu or ESPN+, but if you're getting Mickey's home channel by itself, it's $7.99 per month with ads and $10.99 per month with no ads.
Paramount+
For $5.99 per month (or $59.99 per year), viewers get access to the brand's library with "limited commercial interruptions." A package that also includes Showtime is available for $11.99 monthly or $119.99 annually.
YouTube TV
Perhaps best known until recently as a video website, YouTube offers live TV streaming, whereas most other streaming services mentioned here offer mostly on-demand content. So theoretically, it could be an actual replacement for cable. The cost is $52.99 a month for the first three months and then $72.99 each billing cycle.
Cable
Cable, meanwhile, is not much more than — and it can actually be less than — a collection of streaming services. Direct comparisons aren't easy to make, because many cable TV services are bundled with internet but, in August, the Financial Times calculated that ad-free subscriptions to Disney+, Hulu, Netflix and Peacock cost $87, versus $83 as the average cost of cable, making the streamers more expensive than cable for the first time. (Another option is satellite TV; provider DISH is currently advertising 190 channels for $79.99 a month.)
David Rogers, a professor at Columbia Business School who specializes in digital business, told the Financial Times that, as the growth in subscribers slows, the shift in pricing for streamers was inevitable. More revenue was always going to be needed.
"From a business point of view, streaming was going to have to move in this way — the price point was going to have to go up," he said.
And we're all feeling it.
