10 practical Ways to Save on Streaming Services

The over-the-top media services aka the OTT services have seen rapid growth ever since the pandemic hit the world back in 2019. The streaming service market is crowded, with new services popping up every now and then. With such an abundance of OTT services, it can be tough to limit your subscriptions to just a few.

Here’s how the OTT is growing recently:

• As of January 2023, the global video streaming industry is valued at $70.59 billion. It is projected to reach $330 billion by 2030 at a CAGR of 21.3%
• 85% of U.S. households have at least one video streaming subscription, while 7% of Americans have six or more streaming subscriptions.
• 60% of Americans have at least one music streaming subscription.
• An average subscriber pays anywhere between $20 and $30 per month.

The streaming industry is now bigger than ever. While some contents are exclusively available on certain platforms, some produce their original content that you won’t find anywhere else. With so many choices available, one can easily lose track of all the subscriptions and end up paying a hefty bill at the month’s end.

Here are some practical ways to reduce your streaming bills without making a ton of sacrifices:

1. Cancel Your Least-Used Subscription

We all have one such subscription which we paid to watch a particular show but rarely opened since then. Find out which streaming platform you rarely use and get rid of it. Cancelling even one subscription can save you hundreds of dollars over a year.

Remember, you can always resubscribe when there is a new season coming up that you must watch.

2. Stick to Ad-Supported Plans Over Going Ad-Free

Many streaming platforms offer subscriptions at a lower price if you choose to go with the ad-based version. You don’t necessarily go ad-free if that saves you some money.

Hulu, for example, charges $7.99/month for their ad-supported plan, whereas they charge $14.99/month if you wish to go ad-free. Going with their ad-supported plan will help you save a lot of money.
In the same way, you don’t need a YouTube premium subscription if you can bear with a few ads while enjoying the content.
Other streaming services that offer ad-supported plans:

• Discovery+
• Peacock
• Paramount+
• HBO Max

3. Dump Your Live TV Subscription

If you signed up for a live TV subscription, now is a good time to think about how often you are actually watching it. While these subscriptions charge a hefty premium, they are often underutilised.

Premium services like YouTube TV and Hulu Plus will charge you anything between $60 and $70 per month. Even the budget services like Sling will come at $40 a month. If you seldom turn on the live TV, you can consider ditching your live TV subscription to save some money.
You can always watch your favourite shows on other streaming services that you are already paying for.

If you really need live TV to catch live games, consider setting up a traditional antenna to watch the local TV stations for free.

4. Grab Student Discounts

If you are a student, you are in luck. Most streaming services these days are providing discounts once you verify your student status.

These are some of the best deals that you can grab if you are a student:

• Paramount plus – Provides a 25% discount to bring down your monthly bill from $5 to $4
• Peloton– Get it at $7 per month while the regular price is $14 per month
• YouTube Premium– Watch uninterrupted content and access YouTube music for $7 a month. The regular charge is $12 a month
• Spotify Premium with Hulu + Showtime – At just $5 you can get the Spotify Premium subscription that comes with Hulu (ad-supported) and Showtime. Now, that’s a great deal!
• Amazon Prime Student– Get your first 6 months free, and after that pay just $7.49. The regular price is $14.99 a month.
• Apple TV Plus is now bundled with Apple Music student plans at just $4.99 per month

5. Share Subscriptions among Friends

Let’s say you are holding a Netflix subscription and your friend signed up for Amazon Prime. Instead of paying another $15 a month to become a Prime member, you and your friend can share the accounts and in the process save a significant amount every month. While different streaming platforms have their password-sharing policy, it’s often vague and hard to enforce. You can easily get away with password sharing without getting into trouble. But, stay aware of the password-sharing policies of different platforms.

6. Stick to a Basic Subscription Plan

While we hate watching ads between our favourite shows, it’s not necessarily a bad thing if saves you money. For example, if you choose the ad-supported plans of Hulu or Paramount Plus, you can save $5 to $7 every month. Moreover, you can use that commercial time to get yourself some snacks or go for a toilet break.

In the same way, you can skip the 4k streaming plans that comes with roughly $4 to $5 per month over the standard streaming plan. Until and unless you are watching on a really big screen, the standard HD plan will do just fine.

7. Track Your Subscriptions with a Bill Tracker App like Rocket Money

If you have a lot of subscriptions to manage, a bill-tracking app like Rocket Money (previously known as Truebill) can be useful in keeping track of your spending. They can help you cut down any unwanted subscriptions you are paying unknowingly or identify an increase in charges for any of your existing subscriptions.

8. Avail Free Trials

Most streaming services offer free trials. If you strategically take advantage of the free trials, you can watch the entire series without having to pay a penny. Just remember to cancel your subscription before the due date.

9. Try Out Free Streaming Services

There are many free streaming platforms out there that let you watch live TV, popular movies, and TV shows free of cost. You will have to watch ads in between, but you can’t ask for more for free! Check out their content library and decide for yourself if that works for you.

Here are some of the most popular free streaming platforms that you can consider checking out:

• Freevee
• Peacock
• Pluto TV
• Roku Channel
• Tubi
• Crackle
• Vudu
• Sling Free
• Xumo

10. Opt for a Bundle Plan Provided by Your Mobile Carrier

Many mobile carriers offer plans that include some or the other streaming services. For example,

• T-Mobile’s Magenta Max plan gets you a Netflix Standard subscription
• AT&T’s Unlimited Elite comes with HBO Max
• Metro by T-Mobile’s unlimited plan gets you an Amazon Prime subscription
• Verizon’s unlimited plan gets you Disney Bundle

Subscribing to such a package will help you cut down some of your costs.