Have We Hit The Tipping Point with Subscription Services

Trying2SaveABuck on 02/11/2023 - 11:08

Have we hit the tipping point with entertainment Subscription services?

The time of posting (per Month)
Apple TV $12.99
Amazon $14.99
Netflix $16.99 (without Ads)
Disney Plus $14.99
BINGE $10 (basic)
Stan $16 (Standard, basic isn’t HD)
Paramount + $9.99
Kayo $25 (basic)

I only have Amazon Prime more for the retail delivery and because i signed up for 12-mo prior to the price rise - otherwise i have unintentionally given up and everything else - once upon a time i had 4 or more services at once but i have hit a point without realizing it that most of these services arent worth it.

Anyone feeling we have hit a tipping point with these services?

Poll Options

  • 354
    Streaming Services have gotten too expensive
  • 18
    Streaming services are worth it is you cycle providers
  • 6
    Streaming services are cheap and good for money
Entertainment Video on Demand

Comments

  • Stewardo on 02/11/2023 - 11:13
    +13

    Why not use one at a time, watch content till you’ve seen enough then move to next service.

    • Trying2SaveABuck on 02/11/2023 - 11:19
      +3

      that is 'option 2' in the poll

      • syousef on 04/11/2023 - 09:33
        +1

        For us old timers they kids are asking why we don't superglue our eejeet boxes to one channel for a month at a time.

  • FoxJump on 02/11/2023 - 11:15
    +1

    i go up and down on my netflix according to usage.
    if it's just my dad, then he gets ads
    if i'm watching too, then i'll bump so two devices can watch it, and then i drop it until i next have time to watch something.

  • Fx180 on 02/11/2023 - 11:21
    +3

    Stremio /w Real-Debrid 😎

    • hashtagbargain on 02/11/2023 - 14:48

      You'd still need to torrent your content right?

  • Empharand on 02/11/2023 - 11:23
    +26

    With all these streaming platforms + their trickling price increases + account sharing blocks, it tends to make people view their content via other online methods that have been around for quite a while that allow people to view said content without the abovementioned restrictions.

  • Bid Sniper on 02/11/2023 - 11:31
    +38

    This is how you get piracy

    • Switchblade88 on 02/11/2023 - 13:49
      +24

      Netflix worked because it was cheap, convenient and had no fragmentation between different providers.

      The high seas continues to work because Netflix (and now Youtube, dammit) has given up all their advantages in the name of shareholder profits.

  • Drakesy on 02/11/2023 - 11:38
    +6

    Dumped Netflix and went to Amazon Prime, never looked back.

    may take up netflix for 1 month or so if they release certain series and binge watch it but other than that i can't be bothered.

    Literally have come full circle.

  • pegaxs on 02/11/2023 - 11:39
    +21

    The biggest reason I never got cable/foxtel was because of the fragmented packages you needed to keep buying just to watch one show (Oh that show is on our premium pack, but you need the infotainment pack, and then the classic pack, once you have those you can opt into the family pack and that gives you access to the premium pack…).

    Streaming services have done the same and have now gone down the "advertising" route. I just want a provider that has everything I want in one place and if I am paying, Im not willing to put up with ANY ads, even for their own shows.

    Well, there is a service where I can get all the content I want in the one place, I'm happy to pay their yearly fee and get to watch what I want to watch whenever I want to watch it and without ads… Just a shame I have to wear an eye patch when scrolling for something new to watch.

    • Rob-4x4 on 03/11/2023 - 09:05
      +4

      I gave up on Foxtel when they started stuffing shows with adds. If I wanted advertising crap I could see that on free to air for nothing ..

  • Nugs on 02/11/2023 - 11:41
    +1

    "Streaming Services have gotten too expensive"
    how about they have always been too expensive (ignoring short term promotions)
    .

    • Trying2SaveABuck on 02/11/2023 - 11:48
      +1

      This is fair - but for services like Paramount Plus up until recently you could get the service for like a year for under 50 bucks

  • AustriaBargain on 02/11/2023 - 11:49
    +3

    I'm splitting Disney+ with someone who has kids. I know with password crackdown it might mean me sending them confirmation codes a lot more often. I like Disney+ because for my age that's where all the hyped shows are at. And it's nice to have access to a library of shows and movies which they got after buying Fox on top of Disney's own brands like searchlight pictures or whatever it's called.

    I'll have Prime no matter what. And Apple TV+ comes with my family package anyway. So Disney+ is the only one I'm actually going out of my way to pay for. I'll pirate the rest, it's just too much money otherwise, sharing or not. Might get Binge again if I can get it cheap, but otherwise I have no plans on giving these platforms any more money than I already give them. Apple Premier One family just went up to $50 a month from like $43. And it looks like Amazon Prime has gone up, so there's another big payment I have to look forward to…

  • dogboy on 02/11/2023 - 11:55
    +3

    There is an easy solution where you only have to pay for 1 subscription to get all of this and more - a VPN. Then just download whatever you want.

  • [Deactivated] on 02/11/2023 - 11:56
    +1

    We've started cutting back. Unfortunately everyone in our house has a different favourite streaming service, which makes it tricky to pick which ones. But Disney plus annual renewal is getting pushed out by 3+ months because there's no financial incentive to auto-renew, so we'll take a break before we do it. Will be similar when others come up. As I pointed out to my husband, if you delay an annual renewal by 3 months four times then you effectively save an annual subscription cost with very minimal impact on what you miss out on.

  • Some Human on 02/11/2023 - 12:06
    +3

    Meanwhile, youtube is free.

    • Ghost47 on 02/11/2023 - 16:53
      +3

      On top of that 9Now, 7 Plus, SBS On Demand and ABC iView also have shows that people can stream.

  • AussieDaddy on 02/11/2023 - 12:10
    +14

    That's why I sail at the high seas.

    • eek on 02/11/2023 - 14:11
      +2

      Like a pirate? ;)

      • infinite on 04/11/2023 - 11:59
        +1

        arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr indeed.

  • Godric on 02/11/2023 - 12:17

    I only have YouTube Premium from Brazil or what ever it was

  • onetwothreefour on 02/11/2023 - 12:19
    +7

    I used to pirate everything until I got a Netflix subscription but now there are so many different streaming companies and they are expensive so I find myself pirating more stuff these days than I have for years.

    • nedski on 02/11/2023 - 14:36
      +6

      You mean downloading Linux ISO's…. right?

      • onetwothreefour on 02/11/2023 - 15:24
        -4

        No idea what that means.

        • nedski on 02/11/2023 - 20:54
          +12

          Worst… pirate… ever….

  • ForkSnorter on 02/11/2023 - 12:19
    +4

    Netflix is the one I'd drop nowadays. It used to be pretty good, but the quality of new shows has dropped.

    Amazon Prime is the one I'd keep. It's still bringing out some decent shows, plus it also gives you access to a basic version of Amazon Music, and free retail delivery.

    Apple TV+ has some decent content, but it's so slow bringing out new stuff. You can sign up for a month or 2 (which is occasionally free) and watch everything on there.

  • lunchbox99 on 02/11/2023 - 13:15
    +2

    Lock-in will be next obvious move. They don't want you to be able to jump in and out with a binge watch session.

  • EightImmortals on 02/11/2023 - 13:41
    +2

    Amazon $14.99

    Huh?

    Mine says $59 Per year.

    • ForkSnorter on 02/11/2023 - 15:22
      +1

      There was a limited time to sign up to that $59/year deal. After 1 year on that, I think it will revert to the current regular price of $9.99/month or $79/year.

  • freefall101 on 02/11/2023 - 14:17
    +4

    So far this year I have cancelled Netflix and Disney+ (also didn't renew Paramount, but I only ever paid a few dollars for 12 months and even that wasn't worth it), cancelled my uber one account and mostly stopped using uber, will cancel youtube premium when the price hike goes though, cancelled my woolworths everyday rewards when they stopped the 10% on deliveries and found I save more money buying a bunch of stuff at Aldi/local markets.

    It's been a great year for me. Only thing left to decide on is Game Pass, I'm still working through a pile of discount subs I had with that though and have a year to decide. It's still pretty good value though. Amazon I'll stick with for now, they dropped the price on Audible to sign up to 12 months and have kept Prime cheap so I have no reason to think about leaving.

    • geekcohen on 02/11/2023 - 14:23
      +1

      cancelled my woolworths everyday rewards when they stopped the 10% on deliveries

      That has since come back

      and found I save more money buying a bunch of stuff at Aldi/local markets.

      Well yeah, did you find it was also cheaper going into Woolies and buying it rather than paying the inflation "delivery" prices on products?

      • freefall101 on 02/11/2023 - 17:34

        That has since come back

        Cheers, good they bought it back. I might go back to it now

        Well yeah, did you find it was also cheaper going into Woolies and buying it rather than paying the inflation "delivery" prices on products?

        No, because they stopped charging extra years ago (they promised to do it back in 2020 and I've found the prices are the same since). Sometimes they do online specials that aren't in store too, so often I find it works out better.

  • pharkurnell on 02/11/2023 - 14:28
    +1

    I get offended for having to pay for rubbish shows shit shows.

  • MonkeyMagic1977 on 02/11/2023 - 15:33
    +1

    If I wasn't still based in Turkey, then I would have started sailing my pirate ship elsewhere.
    The content is getting pretty mediocre lately.
    Amazon I find blah….can hardly be classified as a streaming service anymore, so little on it.
    Netflix you need to VPN around the world to get something new
    Thinking to pay for IPTV again given how poor the offer is these days from any one provider

  • apple2016 on 02/11/2023 - 15:58
    +2

    This is just HD. It gets more expensive if you want 4K

  • melbourne guy on 02/11/2023 - 17:58
    +1

    Found out today that Apple are about to hike up my One plan to $50 a month from the current $43, with no notification either, I had to go into my subscriptions and saw the new price, so I’ve ditched it starting next cycle, now I’m only going to pay for the music and the cloud storage and will only pay $35 per month (All paid for with 20x bonus points gift cards I should add!). I’ve buggered off the news, fitness, the arcade game and the tv show streaming services!

    There are also rumours that Disney plus will have price hike and a password sharing crackdown soon 😞

  • JIMB0 on 02/11/2023 - 21:06
    +9

    Who's got time to watch all this crap?

    • Lurk Hartog on 03/11/2023 - 09:00
      +4

      Cries in having a small child.

      I think I've watched three TV shows in the last three years. 😔

      • Ghost47 on 04/11/2023 - 16:32

        I would say having a small baby and being on leave to take care of them is a fair excuse.

  • Benno007 on 03/11/2023 - 08:57
    +1

    Given up all my streaming subscriptions, only taking free trials now. Back to free to air for me 😂. Piracy is much easier too now than trying to find which one of 20 platforms a show is on.

  • SlickMick on 03/11/2023 - 09:32
    +2

    There is no way I'm ever going to pay an ongoing fee for standby entertainment.

  • ColtNoir on 03/11/2023 - 09:47
    +1

    I generally keep Netflix as a primary service and then sign up to the others as needed. Between my wife and I there's always something we’re watching on Netflix.
    I sign up to Prime only when I buy something.
    Recently went back to Disney because of a 3month deal.
    And I cycle through CC trial period for some of the others eg paramount, stan.

  • Hol on 03/11/2023 - 11:56
    +3

    SBS on demand, heaps of great shows and free.

  • knobbs on 03/11/2023 - 12:00

    What are people's favourite seas to sail? I'm finding all my favourite seas I used to explore have been dammed.

  • dmbminaret on 03/11/2023 - 19:53

    I pay €12 ($20 AUD) for a 4TB server slot in Amsterdam. I have my own streaming service with the content I choose or get automatically added from lists. No maintenance, no power bill, no VPN, not reliant on upload speeds.

    • mu11yy on 05/11/2023 - 17:25

      Could you please explain how this works?

      • dmbminaret on 06/11/2023 - 08:00

        What they call a 'seedbox' either a dedicated or shared server with docker containers pre-configured with all the arrs and download software. Basically you set up your torrent or news reader accounts then add titles either manually or from trackt lists and everything funnels into Plex or jellyfin. As soon as it is available from your sources, it appears on your TV (or whatever).

        You can do the same thing from home but have to maintain server and drives plus pay power and have decent upload if watching remotely. Also probably VPN if using torrents whereas Amsterdam don't care. Most Plex users horde data but I just watch and delete mostly. 4tb is heaps for that and you could get bigger anyway.

        • mu11yy on 06/11/2023 - 08:31

          Would a seedbox require less internet speed than Stremio? I'm running it through a Firestick 4K Max with Real Debrid, however I am on FTTN, so I have found that my limit is 1080p for torrents.

          Would I be able to watch 4K, or do you still need download rather than upload speed?

          • dmbminaret on 06/11/2023 - 09:13
            +1

            @mu11yy: Download for sure but Plex is pretty resilient in streaming highest quality for your connection. If you had 4k and couldn't get it, it would transcode it down on the fly.

  • MeesusEff on 03/11/2023 - 19:55

    If you paid about $52 a year for Real debrid then you could do away with the video streaming services. Yes you pay to stream 'pirated content' but it saves me the hassle of downloading/worrying about viruses, storing and then transferring it to the TV. I'm using Stremio now and it's pretty easy to set up

  • DeeTrance on 04/11/2023 - 09:03

    , Yep, I've got Netflix, Disney+, Amazon, Kayo, Apple TV+, Optus Sports and YouTube Premium. It is getting out of hand.

    • handles1 on 04/11/2023 - 09:18

      Same except YouTube, but I also have top-tier Stan with Sport, and Paramount+, and yet I still pirate heaps of movies.. I don’t wanna know what the monthly subscription total is!

  • mrXO on 04/11/2023 - 09:59
    +1

    I like the old days when there were no Stan, Binge etc. All sports were on Kayo. Now no EPL, Tennis etc.

  • Scumbag on 04/11/2023 - 10:58

    Cancel all your streaming services and play the free games you never got around to playing.

  • mataeka on 04/11/2023 - 11:00

    I cycle between 1-2. Atm we have 3, Prime (standard for the shipping), Netflix (buying w/ gift cards - bought 5x$20 and got $15 credit on amazon a while back) and then Disney because I wanna finish watching a old series binge watch and they had 3 months for the price of 1 recently, otherwise I wouldn't be overlapping.

    I have a very boring, mindless data input job - Streaming helps keep me motivated to work, and I'm not accustomed to sailing the seas at this point…. not ruling it out yet though.

  • SupeNintendoChalmers on 04/11/2023 - 11:14
    +1

    Just quite Stan, Netflix and Disney +

    Barely used them. Only have Amazon, because of Prime, and YT via (legit) account in Argentina.

  • ldt on 04/11/2023 - 11:19

    The only 2 I keep permanently are Spotify (I use it most of my day) and Prime (mostly for the free delivery).
    I don’t think I’ve been signed up to any other streaming services in more than a year. I’ll wait until there are 2-3 shows I want to watch, sign up for a month via some freebie or offer, and then cancel.

  • McSquintus on 04/11/2023 - 13:09

    Thought this was about the Apple app store and how everything is a damn demo unless you pay a monthly subscription.

  • Sinnerator on 05/11/2023 - 11:13

    If only there was an alternative where you can watch what you want when you want without ads, and when hollywood deservedly goes bankrupt you can go outside and play with nature

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