Fast facts:
- The total cost of every streaming service available in the US exceeds $580
- There are 52 total streaming services included in this calculation
- While the above number is shocking, most consumers only subscribe to 2-5 individual services at a time (but this number is going up)
While most consumers subscribe to somewhere between two and five streaming services, we wanted to take this to the extreme and get a sense for how much it would cost to subscribe to the 50+ name brand services currently available in the United States.
Totaling out the cost of each of the individual services on a monthly basis, we saw the total number jump considerably higher than we were expecting, with the cost of every streaming service combined coming in north of $550 per month, or around $6,500 per year.
Obviously, this isn’t the reality for any consumer (we hope?), but thought it would be interesting to see what the total might be if someone really wanted to make sure they weren’t missing a show.
Sometimes choosing between different streaming services can feel a little bit like shopping at Costco. You might have a plan in place for how much you’re looking to spend, but then you start shopping and end up double or triple over your initial budget.
Many consumers we spoke with for this story regarding their cord cutting experience commented about how they planned on only subscribing to maybe two or three services, but ended up signed up for four or five. Their reasoning? The individually low price points.
“It’s so easy to look at something like Apple TV+ and pay five bucks a month or whatever. Sure, it adds up, but when you’re signing up for each service separately, you don’t really think about it,” said one person we spoke with about the streaming services they use.
To be clear, such a long list of options is, in our opinion, a great thing for most consumers. Having access to virtually any individual streaming service is an awesome option in comparison with the cable bundle package where whatever is included, you’re stuck with. It can be a great experience for many to pick and choose the services they want, and cancel and re-subscribe anytime as new content is released. The internet has argued ad nauseum about people paying more for multiple streaming services than simply buying a cable package, but the fact is that many consumers are happier bundling the services they want as opposed to buying a “take what you get” service.
It’s also important to note, as seen below, this total was calculated by trying to round up any streaming service we could find that is currently available in the United States. We likely missed several (if not dozens!) but once the total got ridiculous enough, we stopped our search. it’s likely that the number could be higher.
Another thing to take into consideration is that no reasonable consumer is subscribing to FuboTV, Sling TV, and AT&T, all of which offer live TV as their main offering. Removing those, the number is still north of $450 a month though, no small line item on a monthly budget.
Full list of what was calculated:
Service | Cost |
Netflix | $17.99 |
Prime Video | $12.99 |
Disney+ | $8.00 |
Sling | $50.00 |
Hulu | $11.99 |
AT&T Now | $84.00 |
HBO Max | $14.99 |
Peacock | $9.99 |
YouTube Premium | $11.99 |
IWantTFC | $12.99 |
CuriosityStream | $9.99 |
ESPN+ | $4.99 |
Discovery+ | $4.99 |
Apple TV+ | $4.99 |
Paramount+ | $9.99 |
Crunchyroll | $7.99 |
StarzPlay | $8.99 |
BritBox | $6.99 |
Bet+ | $9.99 |
AcornTV | $5.99 |
FuboTV | $79.99 |
AMC+ | $8.99 |
IFC Films Unlimited | $5.99 |
Sundance Now | $6.99 |
Allblk | $6.99 |
We TV+ | $4.99 |
Showtime | $11.00 |
Epix Now | $5.99 |
Kocowa | $7.99 |
MHz Choice | $7.99 |
Pantaya | $6.00 |
Spuul | $4.99 |
Shudder | $5.99 |
Night Flight | $4.99 |
Shout! Factory | $2.99 |
Boomerang | $4.99 |
DC Universe | $7.99 |
Brown Sugar | $3.99 |
Urban Movie Channel | $4.99 |
Kweli TV | $5.99 |
Fearless | $4.99 |
Smithsonian | $4.99 |
Criterion Channel | $10.99 |
Seed and Spark | $2.99 |
Filmatique | $4.99 |
Walter Presents | $5.99 |
MUBI | $10.99 |
Music Box Direct | $4.99 |
OVID | $6.99 |
Film Movement Plus | $5.99 |
Broadway HD | $8.99 |
Stage | $4.99 |
TOTAL | $587 |