One of the things about this blog, and having done it for 11 years, is that it’s impossible to ignore when I get things wrong. You can look through the archives on this site by clicking on a year, and you’ll find dozens of editorials over the years that didn’t quite work out as I expected. So, when I actually get something right, I like to crow about it… a little too much.
Back in 2018, the average person paid about $20 a month for streaming. It was hard to imagine that just five years later, the average person would pay more for streaming than for traditional pay-TV. Yet, that’s what happened. And, I predicted it in this article called, “The big problem with streaming costs.” I pointed out that back in 2018, streaming services were being sold at a loss. At that time it was about getting new subscriptions, not about profits. Back then, I said it couldn’t last forever.
Where we’ve gone in five years
Internet costs have remained roughly stable in five years. Increases in costs have been balanced out with massive increases in speed. Today, I could very easily get 1,000Mbps internet at home for about what I paid for 50Mbps internet in 2018. Now, I’m not kidding myself here. I know that 1Gbps internet may test out nicely in the middle of the night, but that doesn’t reflect my real speeds when I’m trying to stream on a Saturday night. Still, all things considered I’d still get faster speeds than I did in 2018. I’d need them too, as 4K HDR streaming can suck up all that bandwidth pretty fast.
In the meantime, Netflix now cost more than the top three streaming services combined back in 2018. Disney is continuing to raise prices for their content, and we’re seeing every major app do the same. If you have Netflix, Disney/Hulu, Peacock, Max, and Paramount+/Showtime, you’re now paying over $80 a month just for that. And I’d consider that more or less the minimum you need to stream every day.
Where’s the backlash?
Here’s the part where I may or may not be proven right. As recently as December ’22, I predicted that streaming providers may start shutting down as people try to cut costs. So far that hasn’t happened, but there’s still time. What we’re seeing is the apps themselves charging more, trying to cut down on password sharing, and consolidating. This is driving the cost for the average person higher and higher. It might not be long until something snaps. So I’m going to reserve judgment on that particular forecast for a while longer.
For now, the backlash has come in the form of FAST (free, ad-supported (live) streaming TV) services and ad-supported tiers on regular streaming apps. But that can’t last forever. At some point, just as I predicted five years ago, something is going to give.
Time to come back to pay TV?
That’s the real question underlying all of this. Pay television is now the value-priced alternative. Granted, you don’t get the “hot new content” because all of that is based on streaming. Yet, I can’t help wondering if some of that content will migrate to pay TV anyway as the writers’ strike continues to impact production schedules. Within 6 months, you may be seeing some of last year’s hot streaming content on your pay channels, and you’ll get that content for a lower price than you pay for streaming.
It might just be time to cut down on streamers, at least until they start debuting new content again, and come back to a service that’s always treated you right. If you want to know more, fill out the form below or call Signal Connect at 888-233-7563.
