Death. Taxes. Price hikes on Netflix, HBO Max and more.
It’s become an inevitable part of modern life: The major entertainment streaming services have been regularly upping their fees — for some, the increases have come once a year. The average price of ad-free streaming services increased 54% from 2021 to 2025, according to research firm Forrester. That’s well over the estimated 16% cumulative U.S. inflation rate over that period, per Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
And the hikes keep coming. Apple TV and NBCUniversal’s Peacock raised rates in August, the fourth time each has done so in four years. Disney’s ESPN Unlimited service will be 7% more expensive, effective Sept. 17. Those increases come after Netflix raised rates on U.S. plans earlier this year, as did Paramount+.
Part of the reason for the surge: To attract subscribers early on, some providers came out of the gate with very low rates. Today, as the streamers face pressure to grow profit margins, even as all are continuing to spend more on content, the biggest lever they can pull is the subscription price.
But the steady drumbeat of higher rates threatens to pinch Americans’ wallets and may spur them to scrap less-watched services, says Mike Proulx, VP and research director at Forrester. “Consumers are fed up with streaming price hikes,” he says. “Every price hike designed to increase profitability triggers consumers to conduct their own cost-benefit analysis and ask, ‘Is this still worth it?’”
