Streaming media pioneer Netflix set out to become the home of the cord cutting movement. Offer a better experience than Cable to a lower price.
Things have changed significantly since then. Now, there are numerous players on the market, e.g., Disney+, Netflix, Apple TV, Paramount, Prime Video, HBO Max and many more. All want a piece of the cake.
Things have turned for the worse for viewers. The rise of streaming services has spread films and shows across the networks. While most offer a core set of films and movies, including original productions, other content often moves between services.
It may happen that you watch Part 1 of a show using one service, but need to switch to another service to watch the second part. There is also little hope that you may watch all movies of an actor at a single service. Even worse, older content may not be available at all.
Ads and price jumps
Many streaming services have increased the price of a subscription in recent years or announced plans to do so. Netflix, for instance, increased the price in several regions in 2022 and may increase prices again according to reports.
The introduction of ad-powered plans is another recent development. Netflix and Disney launched plans with ads already. These cost less, e.g., Netflix’s Standard with Ads is available for $6.99 compared to $15.49 for its cheapest ad-free plan. Amazon will push advertisement to all Prime Video users, unless they subscribe to an ad-free option.
Ad-powered plans are cheaper, but they deteriorate the viewing experience, especially if ads are shown in the middle of streams. Still, they appear to be lucrative to streamers. First, because they unlock access to new viewers, and second, because it is highly lucrative.
In short: ads are being pushed and prices are increasing. Most streaming services will likely have introduced an ad-powered plan in the coming years.
What you may do about it
Internet users have one main option to deal with the development: to limit subscriptions. Instead of subscribing to a service for an entire year or longer, viewers could subscribe for only one or two months per year.
Streaming services hopping is a valid option to have access to all content, albeit not at the same time. This is not particularly problematic for most viewers. The majority of streaming services fail to release enough content to warrant a yearly subscription.
Subscribe to Netflix for one month and cancel afterwards. Subscribe to another service in the next month, and cancel again. It may not be as comfortable as having subscriptions for all services all the time, but you will save hundreds of Dollars per year doing so.
A full year Netflix Standard plan subscription sets you back $185.88 in the United States. Add yearly subscriptions to Disney+, Amazon Prime and some other services you like, and you pay hundreds of Dollar per year.
When you subscribe to a single month and then cancel, you end up paying a lot less.
There is also the possibility to completely dispense with subscriptions. Films and shows may be rented at public libraries, or from friends or colleagues. DVDs may not offer the best quality, but they are incredibly cheap on marketplaces such as eBay.
A problem looming at the horizon
Stream subscription hopping works only if the streaming services offer monthly subscription periods. There is a chance that this could change in the future to support only longer subscription periods.
No streaming service has announced plans of this kind though.
There is still the option to subscribe to none of the services, if that happens in the past. While the end of discs is also looming, it won’t happen in the coming years.
Ah. good old American capitalism and corporate greed!
But look on the positive side. Where else can a person live forever if he can’t afford to die?