It seems that a few of the streaming platforms we subscribe to are increasing prices this fall. Hulu. Apple. Another one this past summer I think.
I decided a week or so ago to cancel our Hulu - it’s the one I use the least and seemed to not be worth continuing to pay on a monthly basis. New rate was going to be like $16/month or something. So I cancelled.
Yesterday they send me an offer. 6 months for $2.99/month. I hate it that customer service or satisfaction only becomes an issue or perk when you cancel! Do I get this offer because some other sucker didn’t balk at paying the increased monthly price?
At $2.99 I might do it - but also I don’t know if I want to based on principle!
I know Black Friday is known for offering good streaming deals. Do you gladly pay or begrudgingly pay for various streaming services?
(I am the only one who uses our streaming - my H won’t move from cable and I have nearly no need for cable so here we are, paying crazy $ each month for screen content)
Disney recently bumped their annual fee, too. It’s what the grands watch, so we are keeping it. Prime stays, too, and can’t get rid of Peacock subscription because that’s where I can watch MY sports - swimming and skating. Just finished watching the Silk Road segment of the Short Course Swimming World Cup. Where else would they show that?
We did get rid of Sling TV because we hardly ever watched it recently. The price went up almost 50% so it was an easy decision.
Amazon prime I use because we live out in the middle of nowhere and it levels the shopping field. So, prime video stays and I pay for the no commercials around $5/month. Netflix is good and it stays at $20/month -I downgraded it to not 4K and cannot tell the difference. We just added Apple $15/month because it has such good original content and we are way behind. We have a great indoor antenna $35 for local channels. I do have a lot of you tube channels that I do not pay for but get commercials.
I get those types of discount offer emails from Hulu multiple times per week – either $2.99/month for up to 6 months of Hulu, or $4.99/month for up to 3 months of Hulu + Disney. I expect it is standard to send these offers to previous customers who are no longer active subscribers. I consider these emails spam. Instead of these email offers, I plan to wait to see if there is a better offer on Black Friday. Historically the Black Friday Hulu prices have been as follows.
2021 – $0.99/month for up to 12 months
2022 – $1.99/month for up to 12 months
2023 – $0.99/month for up to 12 months
2024 – $0.99/month for up to 12 months
2025 – $2.99/month for up to 12 months
It’s standard for steaming services (and cable/internet/entertainment/… ) to offer variable prices for the same service like this. This allows the streaming service to charge more for the customers willing to pay sticker price, and charge less for the customers that will only purchase the service if price is lower. It also helps bring in new customers who may become sticker price customers in future. Many people are very bad about closing their unused / lightly used monthly subscriptions, in some cases forgetting that they exist. As such, many monthly subscription businesses and services follow this type of model.
I average well under $5/month on streaming, and I typically have 2-3 quality streaming services and any given time. After catching up on the series/movies I like with one streaming service, I switch to a different one. In the past couple years, these streaming services have included Hulu, Disney, Netflix, HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video, Paramount+, Peacock, Apple, AMC+, Crunchyroll, MGM+, and others.
I have a 2 service policy (plus Prime since we use that for other things as well). I feel that with only 2 streaming services we’re inclined to use them and if some other service has a show we want to watch it forces us to make a decision of which one isn’t making the cut anymore.
I usually subscribe for a year at a time, with a good discount. I will definitely pay attention to Black Friday deals. Now that most are owned by Paramount, it seems likely that everything will get much more expensive.
The only reason I have AppleTV+ is that my son-in-law pays for it. Love that there are no commercials, ever.
I subscribed to NYT Games a year ago for $1.49/ mo for 12 months thru my Apple account. I checked to see when it expired 2 days after it did so I already was billed the $5.99 rate for November. I cancelled so it wouldn’t renew in December. The day after I cancelled I got a $1.49/mo for 12 months offer from Apple.
I’ve been teetering between no cable/streaming and limited cable/streaming for the past 30 years. I’ve had cable, no cable, satellite, no satellite, and now a bit of streaming.
Prime - I signed up for Prime back when the only benefit was to avoid the shipping charge. When they first added streaming, I did not partake. Now, about 25% of my streaming is through Prime. I watch movies, sports, and series. Still, if Amazon separated Prime Video from the shipping portion, I would not pay extra for Prime Video
HBO/Max: I get this “free” with my internet provider. This probably takes up another 25% of my screen time. I watch movies, sports, and series.
Paramount+: This is the only service I pay for as a standalone streaming charge. I use it mostly for series viewing, and bonus for Star Trek. The sports part is very limited and doesn’t really give me what I want. A bonus is when in-theater movies are also available without extra buy-in
Peacock: sharing a friend’s account. The sports on Peacock suit me more than the sports on Paramount. I like it, but could take it or leave it.
A good portion of my screen time is on free-streaming (Roku?) and antenna tv, which provides hundreds of channels at no charge. If any of my services (besides Prime) increase their price, I’d drop without a second thought. For me, it’s just tv and one show/sports/movie, is usually as good as another.
I get Prime through my Amazon subscription. I pay for Netflix with ads. I had been getting HBO Max as part of Cox (our cable company). When Spectrum took over Cox, they added Disney+/Hulu, Peacock, Paramount+, AMC+, and likely more. So that’s plenty to keep up withj; perhaps if there’s some short term Black Friday deal on Apple+ I’ll grab it and catch up on a few shows.
We dropped cable and went with Hulu+Live approx 2 years ago and have been very pleased until recently when prices have gone up and ads have increase x2. It has everything we want including all the sports but we also subscribe to Acorn & BritBox for the British/Irish/Australian shows we like so much. Oh, we also have Prime because shop Amazon way too much we needed the express delivery and ease of returns. We my revisit our Hulu+Live against YouTube+Live which was a close decision for Hulu, maybe change, not sure.
Husband watches tons of live sports and news on cable; I’m mainly streaming (except yesterday LOL). He does watch some sports now on Prime. We’ve looked into what it would take to piece together what he wants to watch and the streaming I like (now that Spectrum covers so much) and it seems like more trouble than any potential savings at this time.
I have TMobile too. I thought I was paying $3/mo for netflix but it is for Apple TV, so I may drop that. I got HBO Max on black Friday last year for $2.99, but I suspect at the end of this month it will go up so I’ll drop it until I need it again (The Pitt). I have Hulu through Tmoible but I’d never pay for it as I can’t think of anything I watch on it.
I still watch more on Netflix than any other. I watch Thurs Night Football on Prime.
We have Amazon mostly for delivery stuff and Whole Foods discounts so consider Prime video a free bonus. Pay just over $100 for Hulu - whatever plan we have lets us watch anything we’ve ever wanted to watch (including college and pro sports). TMobile gives us Apple and Netflix free. Dd has an HBO account she’s added us to. Believe it or not we watch very little TV I mostly stream when I’m cooking and cleaning. We did recently call Xfinity because we were paying $99.99 for internet (really no other high speed options in our town) They immediately lowered to $57. CS person said just call every year and we will get the discount.
To a degree I don’t mind paying for some streaming - our entertainment budget is low, we don’t go out much, don’t have a frilly life or habits, don’t vacation much. On the other hand besides my H having the main floor tv on often most of the day (largely for background noise - continuous weather or golf or other sports) neither of us watches more than 1-1 1/2 hours of tv daily. But because it IS his/my evening entertainment (we rarely watch together - different strokes in television) I sort of want to be able to watch what I want and not have to miss out because I don’t have this or that!
We buy regularly from Amazon, so the annual Prime subscription is worth it to us. Apple TV is free through our cell plan. Signed up for a year of HBO Max earlier this summer (so-so deal). We are OK with these 3 streaming services but will watch for Black Friday deals.
I have Directv Stream because google fiber got out of the cable TV business and Directv Stream was the only option that offered the local MLB team, both home and away. I have Hulu and Prime. I would never pay for a service with ads. If it’s got ads it’s not worth watching. Even on Directv I tape anything I want to watch so I can fast forward through commercials. I’d like to see The Pitt and Ted Lasso but can’t bring myself to subscribe to more services.
subscription because that’s where I can watch MY sports - swimming and skating. Just finished watching the Silk Road segment of the Short Course Swimming World Cup. Where else would they show that?
I mostly stream when I’m cooking and cleaning. We did recently call Xfinity because we were paying $99.99 for internet (really no other high speed options in our town) They immediately lowered to $57. CS person said just call every year and we will get the discount.