Amid inflation concerns and continued price increases, consumers are increasingly prioritizing the cost factor when weighing the value of streaming TV services and spending.
The findings from Hub Entertainment Research come as subscription streamers continue to raise prices and free ad-supported options have become more widely available.
According to Hubs How to Monetize Video report, the average consumer continues to spend around $83 per month on subscription TV services but have upped the amount they say they’re willing to spend to $93 per month. Per the firm, this suggests rising inflation has forced consumers to acknowledge they might need to spend more even if they don’t want to.
A couple recent examples of streaming price increases include Netflix in March upping the cost of plans across its subscription tiers by $1-$2 per month and Disney last fall raising prices across streaming packages.
Price increases expected to continue
Hub’s survey follows a separate Global Media & Entertainment 2025-2030 Outlook from PwC that pegs U.S. OTT subscription revenue to grow over the next five years (albeit at a starkly slower rate starting in 2027) in part on the back of continued price adjustment strategies.
Per the firm, the U.S. streaming video market generated a total $113.3 billion in annual revenue, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 15.7% between 2021 and 2025. The total U.S. OTT market is forecast to grow at a slower CAGR of 6.8% over the next five years to reach $157.5 billion by 2030.
With $84.9 billion or 74.9% of all that U.S. OTT 2025 revenue derived from streaming platform subscription revenue, PwC said subscriptions continue to be “the core revenue engine” within the market segment.
And subscription revenue and is expected to increase thanks to additional subscribers combined “with regular subscription price rises” that PwC notes have been “a consistent feature” of the streaming industry.
PwC expects U.S. streaming subscribers to grow from 533.7 million in 2025 to 601.8 million by 2030. That modest subscriber growth alongside subscription price increases is expected to drive streaming video subscription revenue growth of 6.1% between 2025-2030 to reach$114 billion at the end of the period.
According to the firm, as subscriber growth moderates and streamers themselves prioritize profitability, the OTT market is entering a more disciplined phase of revenue optimization. Rather than rapid user expansion, subscription price increases will be part of growth for streamers over the next five years alongside the key new revenue stream and growth driver of advertising, as well as content approaches to differentiate like incorporating live sports, and strategic relationships such as bundles.
“As platforms converge around similar models blending subscription, advertising and live content, competition is shifting towards differentiation and scale,” wrote PwC.
Consumers have closer eye on price for value
While price increases aren’t likely to abate for subscriptions, consumers do appear to be paying closer attention to cost as a distinguishing factor as they decide where to watch and spend on TV services.
Hub’s survey asked respondents to rank what factors they value most when judging a TV service.
The top 5 most important attributes showed notable shifts since 2025. That includes the importance of “low price” which jumped from a 12% share to 21%, which Hub said signals consumers are “wallet-first” and “more price sensitive than ever”.
Still, for those willing to pay, having ad-free tiers still holds value, as the factor maintained its importance in the rankings.
Sports increase in priority
Also nearly doubling in importance, per Hub, is the availability of live sports content – increasing from 7% to 13%.
With the FIFA World Cup as the latest example of live sports drawing audiences, fandom and engagement, several major streamers have been working to add the key category to their lineups. And separate recent survey data from Bango speaks to the fragmented nature of sports as well as consumers potentially getting maxed out on the number of sports subscriptions they need and pay for.
Per Bango, 27% of respondents need at least three paid subscriptions to watch all of the live sports they follow while 30% think they subscribe to too many sports streaming services.
The fragmentation and cost may be influencing some to get their sports content illegally. Bango found 30% report not paying for sports because they say piracy is the best way to watch. However, 42% indicated they’d be willing to pay more if their telco offer included sports they care about.
One avenue to help combat rising subscription costs is bundling, which has emerged via offers from telcos or operators like Chater and Verizon to pure-play bundles from streaming providers pairing up together. That was seen with the Fox One and Disney’s ESPN DTC bundle that launched last summer.
On the sports font, Bango found 45% surveyed said a sports streaming bundle would make them more loyal to their current telco provider while 43% would switch to a provider that offered a better sports streaming bundle.
Free streamers rank high on value
Perhaps unsurprisingly, as streaming costs weigh on subscribers, consumers are ranking the value of free services more favorably against that of paid.
Hub’s survey found free streamers Tubi, Pluto TV and the Roku Channel garnered the highest “excellent” value scores overall, followed by paid and premium services like Prime Video, HBO Max, Apple TV, Disney+ and Netflix.
A notable standout is ad-free YouTube Premium, which ranked second for excellent value (while YouTube free-only was at the bottom), which Hub said reflects the broad value that ad-free services can provide across video and music.
"Marketing that leads with ‘free’ and ‘low price’ will continue to capture consumers first," said Jason Platt Zolov, senior consultant at Hub, in a statement. "Signaling the value of unique sports content, bundled with a portfolio of premium content, will best match consumer priorities that keep them subscribing."