Are online streaming services still worth it?

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MikeB4

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#306958 7-Sep-2023 11:58

With the seemingly never ending string of price increase notifications and an apparent drop in content quality (Netflix we see what you did) my wife wonders if it is worth having these services. She was talking about, shudder, going back to Sky TV.

What do the fine GZ folk think about the viability of these services? We currently subscribe to Apple TV+, Netflix, Prime, YouTube Premium and Disney. We use Just Watch to try and avoid the aimless search for worthy content which frankly is not easy. Oddly we seem to watch more stuff on TVNZ+ even though there App is less than ideal.

I have no idea what the total dollars per month for these services is but it must be creeping towards Sky's cost per month depending on services selected. Reading has become more my thing as content quality diminishes.

Feed back would be most appreciated and no doubt interesting.

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#3124528 7-Sep-2023 12:11

An increasingly common way to manage this is to subscribe to only some SVOD services at one time; this also increases the chance of having decent/desirable content to watch, though this may mean waiting a bit after new content is released .

I'm a subscriber (haha) to this approach, as I really don't see the point of paying for all services all the time. In particular, the cost of Netflix 4K is so high now, especially relative to the quality/options on there, it just doesn't make sense to pay for it every month.

It's just a matter of keeping track of what programmes you want to watch, and as you're already using Just Watch that doesn't seem particularly onerous.

The main exception to this is the discount offered by Disney+ makes it worthwhile for us to pay annually, plus there's enough content the kids want to watch to justify its constant availaibility.

huckster

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#3124537 7-Sep-2023 12:31

As above. I get Netflix with the Broadband so that is one constant.

The rest, I have had at one time or another, until we had a vote and they disappeared one after the other.

I kept Neon for longer than most as I had a discount on that until their Android App issues finally made me stop it too.

No kids so Disney+ isn't a permanent requirement.

My intention was to cycle through them - a month or two each, one at a time - but TBH, we've not really missed them.

Handsomedan

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#3124538 7-Sep-2023 12:32

Set up a list of things you want to watch on each service.
Watch only those and keep one active subscription going at a time - cancelling the active one when you finish watching what you want and starting the next with your new list.
That way you keep the costs down. Sky is (in my opinion) OK, but not great for the money.

We are unfortunately stuck with all of your streaming services due to there being four of us who are all part way through various things on various platforms.
Costs us a fortune.

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MikeB4

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#3124541 7-Sep-2023 12:41

Thanks for the replies. I think I have a low attention threshold as I get bored quickly with the process of looking for content and I tend to give up, grab a book or my laptop read or catch up on YouTube blob out material. One thing my wife misses is the cooking channel on Sky before it became the competition and baking channel, she hates cooking competitions except Master Chef UK.

With linear TV it only took a few minutes to determine that there is nothing to watch and one could find other distractions.

muppet

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#3124554 7-Sep-2023 13:19

We had Netflix for 3-4 years. As the content got worse while the price went up, I've just fallen back on collecting Plex logins from friends who have large collections and watching stuff off that. I love the geek thing of falling over each other to share their media with you. Thank you Lord Plex.

I was happy to pay when it was worthwhile, but we've come full-circle back to the old Sky days where you pay a lot of money for hot garbage.

Oh I lie, I think we have Neon at the moment for the kids.

But yea, the current ecosystem is collapsing - a lot of people are going back to getting media from less-than-official sources.

alasta

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#3124555 7-Sep-2023 13:20

I think it depends a lot on your situation. I am very time poor, so it's harder to get value out of these services.

These days I only have AppleTV+ and ThreeNow, the latter of which is free to air. I used to have Neon but got rid of it due to price increases and their sloppy software. I have never had Netflix and never felt like I was missing out on anything.

It's probably worth noting that I pay a $10 per month contribution to each of Newsroom and The Spinoff. I personally feel that I get more value out of local journalism than if I were to spend the same money on overseas derived entertainment content.

scuwp

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#3124557 7-Sep-2023 13:22

Netflix seems to stay consistent with us but others come and go depending on the current library. Last one we tried was Amazon Prime but then realizing afterwards that the price was in USD we didn't keep it long as converted it's damned expensive for what you get.

Lazy is such an ugly word, I prefer to call it selective participation

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jameshammond

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#3124558 7-Sep-2023 13:28

The only service I pay for is Youtube Premium. That's where I get most of my content these days.

mclean

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#3124566 7-Sep-2023 13:45

jameshammond: The only service I pay for is Youtube Premium. That's where I get most of my content these days.

Ditto. Once you have a decent subsciption list set up for news and things of interest, and stick to that, it's hard to beat. We only keep Netflix because my wife likes romantic comedies - none of these on YouTube unfortunately.

JPNZ

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#3124618 7-Sep-2023 14:02

The only constant for me is Apple TV+ as its included in my apple one, Ive been REALLY impressed with it to be honest.

Been really enjoying

For all Mankind, Hijack, The afterparty, Mythic quest, Invasion, Servant, Platonic, Silo & Foundation. They ruined Ted Lasso in the 3rd season for me

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MikeB4

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#3124624 7-Sep-2023 14:14

JPNZ:

The only constant for me is Apple TV+ as its included in my apple one, Ive been REALLY impressed with it to be honest.

Been really enjoying

For all Mankind, Hijack, The afterparty, Mythic quest, Invasion, Servant, Platonic, Silo & Foundation. They ruined Ted Lasso in the 3rd season for me

I agree regarding Ted Lasso. I really enjoyed seasons 1 & 2 but never finished season 3.

MikeB4

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#3124629 7-Sep-2023 14:24

Holy #@!@# I just totalled what we are paying for our subscriptions is $90 per month. I did not think it was that high.

MikeB4

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#3124630 7-Sep-2023 14:27

muppet:

But yea, the current ecosystem is collapsing - a lot of people are going back to getting media from less-than-official sources.

I can understand why families and those on lower incomes are turning to hmm "old seafarer" way of getting content.

PolicyGuy

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#3124635 7-Sep-2023 14:36

I used to have Spark Sport, but once the F1 went back to Sky, I followed it back there - I already had a dish on the roof.
I used to watch Drive to Survive on Netflix, but decided that the Netflix subscription wasn't worth the additional F1 fix, and also the Sky F1 coverage is now pretty comprehensive so there are fewer gaps for DtS to fill in.

I do watch TVNZ+ from time to time, and watch a fair bit of YouTube (not premium) that's about all the streaming I do now. None of the other streaming services have ever had content that made me think "I've got to watch that, even if it does cost me"

I also subscribe to The Spinoff - partly to help local journalism survive.

GregV

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#3124637 7-Sep-2023 14:44

Get Netflix through ISP.

Used to subscribe to Prime, but when I updated my credit card, for some reason they cancelled my subscription instead, and I haven't been bothered to re-sub.

Pay annually for Disney+, but I might drop that one this year, and only re-sub for a month when there are a couple of season of things to catch up on.

Watch a lot on TVNZ+.

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