Streaming services are like cable where you would pay for all these channels that you don’t ever watch, but certain programs and channels you do want to watch you have to pay more for.
Why am I paying for Netflix, Max and Hulu and still getting ads when I watch something?
Prices are going up, advertisements are coming in and the amount of content and different streaming platforms are rising.
Netflix was the first streaming service to gain wide popularity, and people loved it because of its steady low price that was somewhere between $8-$12 for either a basic, standard or premium plan.
All of the plans came with no ads, just a difference in either quality or how many people can watch at the same time. But you still got to watch shows and movies uninterrupted.
Now the “Standard with Ads” plan is $6.99 a month which is a lower price, but to have the same plan without ads it costs $15.49 a month. To get premium access you pay a whopping $22.99 a month.
Netflix is not the only one hiking up prices and implementing plans with ads. Most other services have the same options. But why is this becoming so normal?
Well obviously to have a good streaming service you need content, especially original content. So these companies are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to make new shows and movies, and when they want to make more money they raise prices.
A lot of streaming services do not make quality content on a regular basis. There are so many movies and shows that are really bad and in the end, I have found I am only paying to watch a few different shows or movies on these platforms. Also, half the time what I do want to watch isn’t even on a service that I have.
It’s just like cable where you would pay for all these channels that you don’t ever watch, but certain programs and channels you do want to watch you have to pay more for.
I feel like I am paying for platforms where 99 percent of the content they have I don’t ever watch or want to watch.
The bottom line is that the subscriber growth for these platforms is either decreasing or plateauing which is leading to raising prices and adding advertisements. This is then leading to streaming becoming similar to cable in a lot of ways.
It may be that the way streaming started off was just too good to be true for it to be profitable and the way cable was set up is the only way for companies to make money. However, as a consumer, I am not happy with streaming services.
Owen Daniels can be reached at [email protected].
