Death. Taxes. Price hikes on Netflix, HBO Max and more.
And the hikes keep coming. Apple TV and NBCUniversal’s Peacock raised rates in August, the fourth time each has done so in four years. “Consumers are fed up with streaming price hikes,” he says. “Every price hike designed to increase profitability triggers consumers to conduct their own cost-benefit analysis and ask, ‘Is this still worth it?’”
The cost of everything in the U.S. from gas to groceries keeps rising, and “I think people are starting to choose which long-form content platforms they want to be with — and which ones they don’t,” says Brian Pitz, senior equity research analyst at BMO Capital Markets.
Part of the reason for the surge: To attract subscribers early on, some providers came out of the gate with very low rates. Today, as the streamers face pressure to grow profit margins, even as all are continuing to spend more on content, the biggest lever they can pull is the subscription price.
The pace of the industry’s relentless price hikes will have to cool off at some point. U.S. households spend an average of $69 a month on streaming services, according to Deloitte’s 2026 digital media trends report. And 41% of Americans surveyed said the content available on the services they pay for isn’t worth the price, with nearly half looking to cut costs in this area.
Netflix, for one, has started to ink content deals with YouTube creators like Mark Rober, Drew Binsky and Kevin Langue. But all the players in the streaming segment, Dolan says, will need to figure out “what younger consumers consider entertainment worth paying for.”
