U.S. prices for at least seven major streaming services got more expensive over the last year.
Hulu and Amazon’s ad-free standard streaming service plans are now $18 a month. That may not sound like much, but subscribers to multiple platforms are now easily paying upward of $100 per month. New data from Bank of America (pdf) shows that Americans spend 70% more on streaming services than they did in 2021. And the share of households spending more than $101 per month on streaming services more than doubled from 2021, the report said.
Bank of America said middle-aged Americans are leading this trend.
“Millennials and Gen Xers are paying more per household on streaming as they are paying for multiple streaming subscriptions,” said the report. “These cohorts have also seen the largest share increases of those streaming over the past three years.”
But even though more Americans are spending big on streaming, not every platform is winning. While Netflix saw solid growth in its subscriber base throughout last year after a password-sharing crackdown and price upticks, Hulu and Disney+ lost subscribers.
By the numbers
39%: Share of U.S. households with a monthly streaming subscription.
$18: Cost of basic ad-free plans for Hulu and Amazon. Netflix and Max plan equivalents are $16, while Disney+ is $14 and AppleTV+ is $10.
13%: How much Netflix’s subscriber base grew in the fourth quarter of 2023.
3: Number of streaming platforms that are actually profitable — Netflix, Hulu, and most recently Warner Bros. Discovery.