Consumers Cut Streaming Services In 2024 After Endless Price Hikes And Enshittification
(www.techdirt.com)https://www.techdirt.com/2025/01/08/consumers-pay-less-for-streaming-in-2024-after-endless-price-hikes-and-enshittification/Now that streaming subscriber growth has slowed, we’ve noted repeatedly how the streaming TV sector is falling into all of the bad habits that ultimately doomed traditional cable TV.
That has involved chasing pointless “growth of growth’s sake” megamergers and imposing bottomless price hikes and new annoying restrictions — all while simultaneously cutting corners on product quality in a bid to give Wall Street that sweet, impossible, unlimited, quarterly growth it demands.
Customers are reacting. According to Review’s annual State of Consumer Media Spending Report, the average American spent 23 percent less on streaming subscriptions in 2024 than in 2023. Not because streaming was cheaper, but because customers are being more particular about which streaming service they subscribe to in a bid to do something about soaring costs
“A total 27.8% of Americans report experiencing “streaming fatigue,” defined as that exact feeling of being overwhelmed with the increasing number of streaming apps.”
