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On Monday, Apple announced a new streaming video service that will allow users to subscribe to channels such as HBO and Showtime.
With Netflix, Hulu and Amazon providing their own subscription video services, some have speculated that consumers have reached “peak subscription,” while others have complained about the amount of money they are shelling out each month to keep up with the latest shows.
Does it spark joy?
People who feel overwhelmed with subscriptions can take the Marie Kondo route, said Kelsey Sheehy, NerdWallet’s personal-finance expert.
The Japanese professional organizer popularized her signature decluttering method, known as KonMari, with several books and a Netflix original series released in 2019.
Her cleaning tactics involve collecting all belongings in one place, then picking each one up and feeling whether it “sparks joy” before deciding whether to keep it.
Sheehy said this applies to digital clutter, too.
“In the same way Marie Kondo tells you to put all your clothes out so you can take stock of what you have, people can do this with subscriptions,” she said.
“Look at your monthly bank statements and determine what you are paying for.”
Sheehy said she did this herself recently and realized she was paying for Amazon’s Pantry subscription, which she had never used.
Many people underestimate how much they are spending on recurring monthly costs, according to a survey from Waterstone Management Group released in July 2018.
The average person thought they were paying $79.74 a month on subscriptions, when in reality the average monthly cost of various subscriptions runs at $111.61.
The average household watches 15 hours of streamed video per week on services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime Video, Deloitte’s 13th annual digital media trends survey found.
Apps make it easy
Some apps allow people to take a quick inventory of their subscriptions with the click of a button. Financial automation app Trim, which is free, lets users look at how much recurring subscriptions are costing them and then cancel with the click of a button.
Truebill, also free, works similarly, allowing users to log into subscription services after which the app will negotiate bills down or allow users to cancel them.
Outflow, another free subscription management app, lets users track what monthly costs they are paying and cancel them. Unlike TrueBill or Trim it does not negotiate with the companies a user is paying.
Trim and Truebill both reserve the right to share user data with third parties, while Outflow’s privacy policy states user data is not stored unless directly permitted. (Trim, Truebill and Outflow did not respond to request for comment.)
The old-fashioned route
“Sit down with the people in your household and a pad and pen and literally make a list of every subscription,” said Jim Kimble, founder and owner of the Cord Cutting Report, a publication for consumers looking to leave cable for other services.
“It may sound oversimplified, but it will make you realize there is a stark contrast between what you use every day versus what you are paying for just for the occasional show.”
Cancel after you watch your favorite show
Unlike many cable plans, Kimble said, most streaming services do not lock users into contracts. That means users can pay for an app just for one season of a show rather than spend money year round.
“Just because you watch 10 different streaming services in a year doesn’t mean you need to pay for them all at once,” he said.
Share accounts with family or friends?
Others mooch off their friends or family’s accounts, which is ethically questionable. This can save hundreds of dollars over the years, according to a January study from CordCutting.com.
It found the average person who uses a Netflix account without paying for it will do so for 26 months.
Netflix’s official policy is that users should not share passwords. At a base subscription price of $8.99 per month for Netflix, this means the average mooching user saves $233 before they finally start paying for their own content.
Executives at most streaming companies are aware that users share passwords and do not appear to be cracking down any time soon.
Sharing passwords is technically a crime, but Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said in 2016, “We love people sharing Netflix,” adding that people who mooch the service often become paying subscribers later.
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