Streaming subscriptions – the true cost of a free trial!
Netflix, Amazon Prime, NowTV, BT TV, Paramount+, AppleTV, Disney+, Spotify, Audible, YouTube and many, many more… are you signed up to several entertainment apps that you barely use? Maybe you’re paying for their premium service when the free version would work just as well? Or worse, you could be paying for services you don’t use at all?
How much could you save by cancelling your streaming apps?
You may have started with a free trial, but how much is it now costing you? Many streaming services have increased their costs – and many haven’t realised it. Team that with many of us forgetting to cancel subscriptions we are no longer using – and the sheer volume of them now available.
With viewers unsubscribing in their droves due to the cost-of-living crisis, many steaming apps are now luring in new customers with a free trial. Even this blogger has signed up for a free trial and immediately received offers to upgrade the resolution at a greater cost – with the cost to ‘Boost’ to this higher resolution then being charged even if not subscribed to.
Tip: don’t be caught out by paying ‘extra’ for options such as 1080p HD (looking at you NowTV) – this is not the same as 4K and really is a basic standard that should be adhered to for a streaming service in 2023. In fact, most will find cutting back to 720p perfectly adequate. If you are cutting back, try it.
You may also find it more cost-effective to hop from one streaming service to another at different times, although this will take some careful organisation.
But you can sign up to one app to watch all of Yellowstone, for example, for several months, cancel it once you’re done, and switch to something like Netflix for a few months to binge-watch Peaky Blinders.
When that’s done, cancel and head to something like NowTV once the entire series of Last of Us is available and cancel once you’ve watched it. Just make sure you cancel as you go.
Of course, there are many other shows and many other streaming services, but the point is that, by carefully planning your interests and cancelling what you don’t need, you could save a fair bit of money.
How much could you save?
As an example, if someone had 50% of these or similar streaming apps, at the highest premium, and cancelled, they could save over £100 a month. It really does all add up!
Not sure what streaming channels you have?
You’re not alone – free trials can easily be forgotten, but the costs can mount up. A year of a forgotten Kindle and Audiobook subscription could set you back a whopping £191.76, when you could be accessing books via your Amazon Prime account for free.
Start with Amazon Prime and check your Prime Membership on your account. Then take a look at your ‘Amazon Channels’ and cancel any you no longer use.
If you do sign up for a free trial over a holiday, for example, make a note of it in your diary so that you can cancel before you are charged. And don’t forget, there are plenty of free streaming services available, including Spotify and YouTube free options, plus apps such as BBC iPlayer and ITVX.
Tip: Check your bank account and credit card accounts periodically – streaming costs are relatively small so are easily missed, but soon mount up when you add it all together!
Follow more of our energy and cost saving tips via our guides below.
Source: ‘9 out of10 Brits have used a streaming platform in the past 12 months’ courtesy of Finder.com
