News Summary

• 2023 price increases include:While some consumers might not have worried about the cost when the services were cheaper, even news of a price increase can cause them to reevaluate whether or not they are actually using and getting value out of a certain streaming platform..
• "With all the different streaming services, they can't even come to terms with the amount of content available to consume, let alone actually find the time to search through it and consume it all," says Janus..
• "The companies are instituting a number of changes to attract (or in many cases, re-attract) viewers, including offering cheaper, ad-supported streaming options and combining with other companies to provide more content for the customer's dollar..
• "The subscription model is not economically viable at current pricing," says Keith Valory, CEO of streaming service Plex, noting that when cable reigned supreme, providers received their portion of the subscription cost plus ad revenue, and churn was negligible..
• Take Amazon, which recently announced it will begin inserting ads into Prime Video content later this month; viewers can watch ad-free by shelling out an additional $2.99 per month.Of course, ad-supported streaming is cheaper than its ad-free counterpart..
• Combined with the general cost-of-living increase Americans have faced over the past few years, more are cutting out discretionary spending like entertainment subscriptions.Many streamers, including Disney, Hulu, and Netflix, offer ad-supported and ad-free streaming packages, with the ad-free option typically costing a few dollars more per month..