Five-in-eight UK consumers now subscribe to more than one local TV streaming service. They often end up not really watching anything on one or more of those platforms each month. This developing phenomenon has value implications and smart subscription management implications. Our consumer experts guide you through these user dissuaders to help you find the best possible deals and get the most out of your viewing experience.
Hugo Cannon, CompareRock’s representative in the US, highlights that some of the biggest savings come through multiuser plans such as family or group policies. Meanwhile, Andy Webb from Be Clever With Your Cash cautions that attempting to juggle three or four services simultaneously may lead to wasted money. Rather than try to build up all the services all at once, he advocates doing one service to start.
With flexible, monthly contracts subscribers can cancel at any time and easily come back when their must-watch shows and series return. This approach would result in billions of dollars in savings and maintains access to millions of diverse, relevant, and timely titles.
The Appeal of Free Trials
Many TV streaming services offer enticing free trials, enabling users to binge-watch desired shows before their subscriptions auto-renew into paid plans. These trials give subscribers a chance to check out everything each service has to offer without the upfront payment.
Dan Wilderness from the Financial Wilderness illustrates how retention deals can provide fantastic savings. In fact, you can save more than 50% off your monthly subscription during your first three or six months! Take Netflix Premium, currently £18.99 per month, which means a household can stream content on four devices at the same time. Users have the option to create up to two additional profiles for non-household members. This has reportedly been added at an extra charge of £4.99 per month with ads or £5.99 without ads.
In addition to this, Disney+ has now launched a yearly plan at £43.99, making the monthly plan £4.99. Customers who sign up to the yearly plan save £19.98 versus monthly payment over the course of a year.
“If you’re only interested in, for example, watching Premier League football on Sky, you can save money by getting a Now subscription instead of a full Sky package.” – Alex King at Generation Money
Consumers are more than ever before searching for solutions to save money without missing out on their must-have TV and sports action. One effective strategy is switching to platforms like Now, which provides access to Sky’s Premier League football coverage without requiring a full Sky TV package.
King further explains that users can subscribe to specific sports packages via Now’s app, eliminating the need for a satellite dish or additional channels they may not want. This level of flexibility gives viewers the ability to customize their subscriptions based on what they want to see.
Ben Smye of Hotukdeals advises Sky customers how they can save over 30%. He suggested they cancel their existing subscriptions and hold out for juicy retention deals. His method puts you through the cancellation process every month, usually resulting in more discounted rates for current plans.
“If you’re still paying for Sky TV, moving over to Now will save you a packet … My top trick is to go through the pass cancellation process each month. Most of the time you’ll be presented with a lower price – this month, I knocked a £34.99-a-month Sky Sports pass down to £20.” – Ben Smye at Hotukdeals and Andy Webb
The Value of Multiuser Plans
In the canon Against multiuser plans, big savings for the consumers. These plans provide a seamless way for families and friends to share subscriptions. This technique enables different viewers to watch varying content live at the same time without paying too much.
Webb cautions against attempting to optimize subscriptions on all platforms simultaneously. “You’re never going to get value for money if you are trying to watch three or four services at the same time,” he notes. Instead, he advises subscribers to pick one service, binge-watch the available content, and then switch to another service when ready.
The fiscal impacts of these choices can easily be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. For comparison, Amazon Prime currently costs £8.99 per month, or £95 per year. Save 20% when you sign up for the annual plan — that’s £12.88 saved! Paramount+ has a bare-bones plan starting at just £4.99 per month. By paying annually, you save 26%, taking the total down to only £43.99.
“The biggest savings come from using multiuser plans, in my opinion.” – Hugo Cannon at CompareRock