Consumers Paying More Than Ever for Streaming TV Each Month

After years of inflation, Americans are used to sticker shock. But nothing compares to the surging price of streaming video. From a report: Last week, Apple TV+ became the latest streaming service to raise its price -- up from $6.99 to $9.99 per month -- following the example of Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, and Netflix, which all hiked their prices in October. Half of the major streaming platforms in the U.S. now charge a monthly fee that's double the price they charged when they initially came to market. And many of these streaming services haven't even been around for 10 years. Consumers have grumbled, but have so far been willing to keep paying up. It's hard to say where their breaking point will be, but given that analysts believe the platforms are likely to continue raising prices even further, we'll probably find out soon enough. Part of what's driving the price hikes is how saturated the streaming market has become. For a company like Netflix, which has 77 million paid subscribers in the U.S. and Canada, finding new paying subscribers to keep revenue growing is not easy. Netflix has started clamping down on password sharing to boost its paid subscriber rolls, but that only goes so far. Raising prices for existing subscribers is an effective way to pump up the top line and keep investors happy.

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