The streaming dream — watch what you want, when you want, for a fraction of the price of cable! — comes to an end.
With all the price hikes for video streaming apps like Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and Hulu, the average household that subscribes to four streaming apps can now end up paying just as much as a cable subscriber, according to Deloitte research.
To name a few of the price jumps for (ad-free) video streaming in the last year: Amazon’s ad-free Prime Video is now $12 a month, up from $9. Netflix has increased the price of its premium plan for watching content on four devices to $23 a month, up from $20. Disney has raised the price of its Hulu service to $18 a month, up from $15. and HBO’s Max is now $16 a month, down from $15.
If, like many people, you subscribe to all of these services, you’re paying about $70 a month, about the same as an average cable TV package.
More changes on the horizon will make people pay more for streaming. Disney announced this month that it will crack down on password sharing for Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+. Netflix told shareholders last month to expect more price increases.
Streaming services still offer more flexibility and savings than a cable bundle. If that’s what drew you to streaming, the solution might seem obvious: You could be more judicious about managing your subscriptions — canceling Netflix once you’re done with “Love Is Blind,” for example.
But this is harder than it sounds. Streaming apps are designed to make us forget that we can unsubscribe.
You won’t get a reminder that your subscription is up for renewal, said Tony Hu, program director for engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “When you walk into a casino, you don’t see the exit signs prominently,” he added.
So it helps to know what companies are doing to help you manage your subscriptions. Here’s what to look out for.
Because we forget to unsubscribe
In May, designer and artist Caroline Sinders published the results of an independent study on how companies like Netflix, Hulu, Vimeo and The New York Times make it difficult to unsubscribe from their services.
The study, conducted in 2022, found that some media companies like the Times created friction in the process — requiring, in some cases, a phone call to cancel a subscription. The Times now allows subscribers to cancel online without a phone call.
Although the study found that streaming services like Netflix and Hulu were easier to cancel, you may stay subscribed longer than you want because of what they don’t do, Mx. Sinders said. They don’t send emails reminding you that you have an account. When you are charged, they generally do not email payment receipts.
Harry Brignull, a user experience consultant and author of a book about the tricks tech companies use to control you, pointed out that the streaming industry has conditioned consumers to accept this practice, even though we’d scoff at it for almost any other transaction .
“How come we’re all okay with this?” he asked, adding that if you “walk out of a store, you want to be given a receipt.”
However, streaming apps send lots of emails after you cancel, hoping to lure you back with marketing messages about new TV shows and movies.
Netflix declined to comment on why it was not sending monthly payment receipts or renewal notices and said the best way for users to manage their subscriptions and view past payments was through their account settings on the site. Hulu, Disney and Max did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“Is Lack of Reminder a Harmful Design Plan?” A.D. Sinders said. “I would say so. It puts a lot of burden on the user to remember.”
Create a reminder system
The practices listed above have become the industry norm, so it’s up to us to create a system to remind ourselves when to unsubscribe from a streaming service.
Creating a monthly reminder a few days before a subscription renewal would go a long way, Mr. Brignull said. And Mr. Hu, the MIT director, keeps a list of the streaming apps he pays to track the shows he and his family watch on each, which helps them determine when it’s time to cancel.
Paying through a third party is another way to get reminders. When you sign up for a streaming service through Apple’s App Store, for example, you’re billed by Apple, which emails monthly receipts. PayPal does the same. Apple also makes it easy to view all subscriptions and renewal dates in one place within its Settings app, so you can remove them more easily.
I take a more aggressive approach. To turn off auto-renewal, I cancel a subscription as soon as I sign up. This means that if I want to keep the membership after the current billing cycle, I have to sign up again each time, but I think it’s worth it for the control it gives me over the billing process.
Whichever avenue you choose, the most important step is to slow down, Mx. Sinders said. When you’re ready to unsubscribe, do so on a laptop or tablet, not on your phone, where you can easily be interrupted or distracted. And when you create reminders in your calendar to cancel your subscriptions, set them for several days before the next bill hits your credit card.
