As part of a potential recession coming up, I wrote this post about a year ago where I talked about rationalizing streaming services. I still think a recession is likely into 2025 but I was able to get some good deals on streaming services. In one instance, I got Hulu (with ads) for $0.99/month for a year.
I decided to take a look again at all my streaming services, in part, because I’m also rotating my credit cards to earn points. One of the things that shocked me was how much more these streaming services are costing now.
DisneyPlus
Below is the history of Disney+ and it’s ridiculous. From 2019 to 2020 there was no change, from 2020 to 2021 there was a 14% increase. From 2021 to 2022 no change then a whopping 75% increase.
Spotify
Spotify has also had enormous price increases. From when I started at $9.99 to $15.99 to $16.99 to the current $19.99 for a family plan. Ultimately it’s a 100% increase from where I started a few years ago.
Netflix
Netflix is similar, I recall paying $9.99 for ad free streaming when I started, it’s $22.99 now which is way over 100% increase. ParamountPlus is fairly new and has only had one minor price increase if I recall correctly.
Sports
But as bad as those are, the worst increases relate to sports. I wrote about paying $1600 to watch football back in May and now the NFL has been ordered to pay $4.7 billion in damages for anti-trust violations.
I’m not a big sports fan and I would never pay $1600 to watch sports. Over 10 years that would be $16,000 not including investment growth so it’s a no go for me.
Path Forward
Ultimately, I will likely cancel most of these services except Spotify because I love the music variety and podcasts on the platform. I’ll sign up for a few months at a time, watch the most highly rated movies and shows then cancel it. Ironically, by raising prices, these streaming services virtually guarantee that users will sign up and cancel far more frequently rather than stay subscribed at lower costs.
Share The Wealth
What do you think? Are you paying too much for streaming? Let me know in the comments below!