Streaming Services Now Raising Prices Faster Than Cable Ever Did

Streaming subscriptions, once pitched as the cheap alternative to cable, are now climbing in price faster than cable television did even at its most expensive, according to data compiled by The Hollywood Reporter.

The report found streaming prices have risen at roughly three times the rate of inflation. Apple TV has tripled its cost since its 2019 launch price of $4.99 a month. Disney+, which also launched in 2019 at $6.99 a month, now charges $11.99 a month for a plan that still includes ads. HBO Max was the lone holdout, keeping its price close to where it stood at its 2020 debut.

Taken together, subscribing to the full slate of major streaming services now costs about the same as a traditional cable package.

“Paramount+’s cheapest tier is up 80 percent in five years. Netflix Premium is up 125 percent since 2013,” The Hollywood Reporter noted. “If you want all eight major streamers without ads or bundle commitments, it’ll cost you about $151 a month. Four years ago, the comparable lineup cost about $90.”

The increases have accelerated recently. “Apple TV went up 50 percent just in the past year. Peacock’s tiers likewise leapt about 50 percent,” the report added. “Over the course of the past 12 months, streaming rates have collectively risen 11.8 percent. The biggest year of increase was 2023, when the streamers shot up an average of 17.7 percent.”

By comparison, Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows cable prices rose at an annual rate of 3.9 percent during the period cord-cutting took hold. Cable has retained appeal mainly among older viewers and for content like sports, 24-hour news, live events and the Hallmark Channel.

In response to rising streaming costs, younger viewers have adopted what The Hollywood Reporter calls “streaming cycling” — subscribing to a single service for a month or two, watching what they want, canceling, then moving to another platform. “It’s literally ‘this one simple trick that streamers hate,'” the report noted, though it acknowledged the tradeoff: viewers who cycle subscriptions fall behind on shows and miss out on real-time watercooler conversations.