How Much the Average American Spends on Streaming in a Year — and What They Could Save by Cutting Back
Written by
Terence Loose
Edited by
Zuri Anderson
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With inflation rearing its ugly head again and economic uncertainty back in the news, it’s no wonder vegging out to Netflix or Hulu for a few hours a night is attractive. But if you’re like many Americans, your streaming habit is costing you more than you think. Way more.
In fact, Reviews.org‘s “2024 State of Consumer Media Spending Report” found that households are spending an average of $42.38 per month on streaming. That’s more than $508 a year — or $5,080 over 10 years.
And that doesn’t include the internet connection you need to stream — that’s an average of $69.43 per month.
But it doesn’t stop there. An April 2025 CNET survey found that while streaming services made up for 61% of all subscriptions, consumers were spending an average of $90 per month on subscriptions in total, or $1,080 per year. And of that, $205 worth went unused.
Ways To Save
The good news is that even when you thought your budget was stripped down to its bare essentials, there’s probably savings on offer. And since on average 20% of the annual spend on subscriptions is unused, it may not be that painful. Here are some things to try.
Find Out:
- Use an app. There are apps that can find all your subscriptions and cancel the ones you’re not using. CNET suggests Rocket Money. The free version can find your subscriptions. If you want the app to cancel them for you, you can subscribe for the Premium version at $6 to $12 per month. Yes, we know how this sounds.
- Audit your spend. Subscriptions often lull you into inaction by being auto-paid. After a few months, you might not even remember you have that subscription to CatVideos-R-Us. Scour your credit card and bank statements for any unwanted ones.
- Audit your stream. Write down exactly how many hours of each streaming service you used last month, or this month. You might be surprised how much a few episodes of Bridgerton are costing you. Do the same for all your subscriptions.
- Rotate. CNET reports that 11% of their survey respondents use the rotation method to save money. Basically, you have one or two streaming platforms, watch what you want, then cancel one and add another, rotating in and out of streaming services as you find content you want to see.
- Deal with ads. Most streaming services now have cheaper plans that include ads. These plans can cut your spending by nearly half.
If you’re still hesitant and need a bit more incentive, here’s a little fact that might do the trick: If you had forgone streaming for 10 years and instead bought $5,080 worth of Netflix stock 10 years ago, it would be worth $50,763 today. How does “Bridgerton” look now?
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