After years of inflation, Americans are used to sticker shock. But nothing compares to the surging price of streaming video.
Last week, Apple TV+ became the latest streaming service to raise its price—up from $6.99 to $9.99 per month—following the example of Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, and Netflix, which all hiked their prices in October.
Half of the major streaming platforms in the U.S. now charge a monthly fee that’s double the price they charged when they initially came to market. And many of these streaming services haven’t even been around for 10 years.
Pushing ads pushes profits
Some observers see another reason for the frequent price hikes: to push subscribers to their breaking point, and compel them to opt for a lower-priced, or even free, ad-supported plan instead.
Disney CEO Bob Iger said as much during an August earnings call: “We’re obviously trying, with our pricing strategy, to migrate more subs to the advertiser-supported tier.”
Why? Unlike a paid subscription, which brings in a fixed amount of revenue each month, there is no ceiling to advertising revenue. The number of ads displayed and the rates a streaming platform can charge marketers for the ads are constantly fluctuating, offering unlimited revenue upside.
Son of a bitch
But how will the CEOs be able to buy their fourth super yacht if they don’t raise prices more? Won’t someone please think of the CEOs stuck with only three super yachts?
With a hay, hay ho and a hay hay hey,
We’re hoisting the flag to be freeWhat the hell. Can people please cancel en masse already? Why are consumers putting up with this? The price increases stop once it’s not profitable anymore.
This generation of consumers is even dumber than the last one.
They pride themselves on getting taken for a ride because it gives them a sense of belonging.
I guess the complexity to pirate things. Or people forgot how to.
I’ve been sailing the high seas for almost 20 years now. It’s never been easier to pirate things. Stremio and a well known service honestly beats all steaming services both in quantity and quality of the “catalogue”. At least for English language content.
The price increases stop once it’s not profitable anymore.
When has this ever happened?
Just to be clear, are you questioning whether there’s ever been a case where prices have been stable because a company is worried about losing customers? I mean, there are tons. We’re coming out of a 20 year period of historically low inflation. High inflation is recent, not inevitable.
Consumer electronics are an obvious example. Smart phone prices actually dropped this year on soft demand.
Those analysts should STFU and stop telling the companies that.
The companies already know.
I’m about to give them some reasons.
Yar
I’ve been making fun of them for years and they just keep doubling down on their stupidity.
I’ve lost hope for this generation.
Ok, question. I’m totally tech illiterate, but have heard these kinds sites are used to farm for crypto? Like I’d rather just not watch new shows or movies at this point until I can take the time to learn to pirate again safely.
Even if that was true, why would it be bad? As long as they aren’t overdoing it, why would you care?
these kinds sites
Well, when you’re that ambiguous, sure you can find streaming sites that mine crypto.
Does that mean this one does? Well, I’d wait until there is evidence before clutching my pearls.
… I’m asking if there is evidence of it, and if so, what that means in terms of effecting PC performance. Or just in general for these kinds of sites if it’s a concern worth having.
I have not seen any evidence that the site I linked mines crypto on user’s machines.
Which “generation” are you referring to? I’m willing to bet the older generations, ya know the ones who paid hundreds on cable a month for decades, are the least price sensitive and tech savvy.
I’m referring to just about everyone under 35.
ya know the ones who paid hundreds on cable a month for decades, are the least price sensitive and tech savvy.
You mean the ones who didn’t have any alternative?
What about the ones who do? It’s just a quick internet search away, but they’d rather use their wallets to fit in with everyone else.
You mean the same young people who aren’t even the ones to make the household decision to cancel streaming because they were borrowing passwords from their parents until just this year? Why would most have their own accounts when the policy just changed?
Young people watch on their laptops or tablets. Middle aged people watch on their big screen smart TV in their suburban home. You think Boomers and older Gen X, the wealthiest generation in history with the most disposable income, most of whom are tech illiterate, are abandoning the convenience of streaming to set up Plex servers?
No, I mean the same young people who pay for the streaming services themselves and constantly say things like “it is/isn’t available on x service” when it’s all available here for free: https://fmoviesz.to/
most of whom are tech illiterate, are abandoning the convenience of streaming to set up Plex servers?
So glad you mentioned Plex. That’s just another meme for the 🧩’s of this generation who think they’re smarter than the rest. Not only are they a gross minority, the vast majority of them don’t even pirate the content they download. They still buy it like rubes, lol.
You don’t even recommend the free alternative to plex, Jellyfin. You’d rather use the one owned by a for-profit corporation that has ads.
If this generation cared more about saving money than fitting in, we’d see people sharing free streaming services before paid ones and ‘plex’ bullshit.
Gonna block you now, though. It’s painfully obvious you’re just going to move goalposts and twist your brain in knots to avoid admitting you may be wrong.
Have a nice day.
It makes absolutely no sense to say that young people make most of the streaming subscription decisions. Why would they when they were sharing passwords just this year? You have no response, which is why you didn’t address that point.
I don’t use Plex, but I’m not your average user. We’re talking about the average middle aged person. You have WAY more faith in the average consumer if you think they’re going to set up an open source solution to play their torrents!
Apple and Disney giving it hard to everybody.
And they’re proud to bend over and take it while trying to convince their peers to do the same.
Some of us suddenly stopped paying anything for streaming this year.
Disney is for those have kids, they will pay a lot to have sure they have a free time. Apple tv can rise whatever they want, apple clients already prove they pay any questionable thing for whatever price they offer.
For other parents: PBS Kids Video It has a bunch of stuff, can be cast to a TV for toddlers; or put on a tablet for older toddlers.
For paid streaming services, we have decided to limit ourselves to two at a time. Once we’re bored with one, we cancel it and do another for a while.
We stopped subscribing to anything. I get some stuff as part of my phone plan but once thats over I am not paying to have these services. I pretty much fell behind on torrent, so there will be a learning curve.
It’s easier now. It’s automated.
Consumers are paying
That. That’s the reason they’re not stopping.
and analysts say there’s no reason for the companies to stop raising prices
Well, my VPN is cheaper and won’t restrict me via fragmented exclusive content.
