<\/p>\n
Kate Ashford<\/span> If you use streaming services for videos or video games, you might have noticed some higher prices \u2014 or \u201cstreamflation\u201d \u2014 on your credit card bills.<\/p>\n While monthly inflation was only 0.3% in December, the category of \u201csubscription and rental of video and video games\u201d saw prices increase 19.5%, according to the\u00a0Bureau of Labor Statistics.<\/p>\n This includes streaming services like Netflix, HBO Max, Disney+ and Hulu, which all boosted subscription prices last year. (It does not include live streaming television.)<\/p>\n The jump in cost is due, in part, to the evolution of the streaming industry, says\u00a0Paul Erickson, principal media and entertainment analyst for Omdia, a tech research and advisory group.<\/p>\n During the pandemic, Erickson says, streaming companies prioritized subscriber growth above all else. Now that streaming audiences are largely stable, companies are under more pressure to be profitable and sustainable.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have this drive for better profitability and business performance, teamed up with the rising cost of content,\u201d Erickson says. \u201cBy and large, the cost of content is always upward.\u201d<\/p>\n Among other things, streaming services are competing for sports rights, which help attract and keep subscribers. Sports rights also reduce churn, the rate at which subscribers leave a service. This makes sports valuable \u2014 and that value is expensive.<\/p>\n \u201cThe business model doesn\u2019t work if you\u2019re paying $8 a month,\u201d says\u00a0Dan Rayburn, a streaming media expert and consultant.<\/p>\n Currently, ad-supported streaming costs about $8 to $12 per month, while streaming with no ads runs about $13 to $25 per month, depending on the company. Prices vary for bundled services.<\/p>\n Rayburn points to\u00a0Paramount, which announced last August that it had signed an agreement to distribute all UFC events in the\u00a0U.S.\u00a0In November, the company announced that Paramount+ subscription prices were going up.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s billions of dollars they just spent,\u201d Rayburn says. \u201cThey need to somehow pay for this.\u201d<\/p>\n Historically, streaming companies have implemented little price bumps over time, to keep increases from feeling painful, Erickson says. \u201cIf you don\u2019t want to alienate the consumer, you spread it out,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Although the 12 months ending in\u00a0December 2025\u00a0saw a 29% increase in prices across streaming services, Erickson doesn\u2019t think it\u2019s a trend.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s probably not going to be the pattern we can expect,\u201d he says. \u201cWe can expect we\u2019ll see incremental price increases from time to time.\u201d<\/p>\n And if prices ever get too high for your taste, you can always downgrade your subscription or cancel it.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery single one of these services is month-to-month,\u201d Rayburn says. \u201cThere\u2019s no lock-in.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.detroitnews.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Kate Ashford \u00a0|\u00a0 NerdWallet If you use streaming services for videos or video games, you might have noticed some higher prices \u2014 or \u201cstreamflation\u201d \u2014 on your credit card bills. While monthly inflation was only 0.3% in December, the category of \u201csubscription and rental of video and video games\u201d saw prices increase 19.5%, according to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2294516,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[39915,22220,21796,23859,22691,23038,25425,6297,21741,21739,298114,74947,23191,21738,31072,361662,239343,239420,239344,21942],"class_list":["post-2294515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-affiliate","tag-arts","tag-business","tag-business-news","tag-california","tag-company","tag-company-news","tag-eamotion","tag-entertainment","tag-local","tag-local-affiliate-arts-u0026-entertainment","tag-negative","tag-netflix","tag-news","tag-online","tag-online-video","tag-overall","tag-overall-negative","tag-u0026","tag-video"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/What-is-streamflation-And-will-streaming-prices-keep-rising.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2294515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2294515"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2294515\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2294517,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2294515\/revisions\/2294517"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2294516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2294515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2294515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2294515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\u00a0|\u00a0 NerdWallet<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\nWhy streaming prices are outpacing inflation<\/h2>\n
Will streamflation continue?<\/h2>\n