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The same nine streaming subscriptions cost $702/year more than in 2021

honestlyranked.com

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Re: The same nine streaming subscriptions cost $702/year more than in 2021

#241
post #79

>At 2021-03 prices these four cost $1,150.92 a year. Today the same nine cost $1,852.92 Is that number really correct? It seems remarkably coincidental how close $1,852.92 is to $1,150.92 * 1.10^5 ($1,853.56) It's pretty much a match accounting for kibblesworth effects.

Forgive me but where does 1.10^5 come into the equation? What is the significance of this number?

Both figures can be arrived to by taking the monthly total and multiplying it by 12.

Re: The same nine streaming subscriptions cost $702/year more than in 2021

#242

From an aesthetic point of view, I am getting pretty tired of this obviously LLM generated static site content template design in 2025/2026. 98% of the time when I see one of these it's a bunch of "content" generated by Claude or similar. Quoting the site: "Written by Rashid N. Rashid N is the editor of HonestlyRanked. He reviews every figure this site publishes against its source before it goes out, and has never ac…

I’m not meaning to be abrasive here, but these comments are also getting old and tired.

And it’s not even relevant to what’s actually on the site linked.

Who cares if the site is LLM generated? Did you care before when you saw the same Wordpress theme repeatedly, or Bootstrap layouts?

The content is what’s interesting, and it is.

Edit to clarify: I read the comment as the issue being the look and feel of the site being AI generated - as in, “this website looks AI generated. It sucks.” NOT the content itself being AI generated.

Using AI to spit out cookie cutter layouts is fine, offloading your thinking onto AI is not something I support.

My stance: An AI generated website with the authors original thoughts is fine to me. I don’t care what it looks like, as long as it serves its purpose.

Re: The same nine streaming subscriptions cost $702/year more than in 2021

#243
post #81

We noticed this also for the online software services that we use. Many of them increased in price, which I can understand with rising costs. However, a large number of them also have/introduced a 'hostile' structure that force you into paying through the nose. Case in point was the timesheet software that we used: * They increased the cost of all price tiers. * They moved features from lower tiers to higher tiers, f…

Microsoft did it with 365 after the introduction of Copilot: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eYVPThx7yss

Maybe it's one of the many ways we finance all those datacenters. Sure Netflix doesn't directly own datacenters but the logic works by proxy.

Re: The same nine streaming subscriptions cost $702/year more than in 2021

#244
post #25

I am still happy with my decision to never get entertainment subscription services. I buy CDs (that I rip) and BDs (that I let someone else rip, since that's a science in itself). This guarantees me access forever and I get to sell down the line, if I feel like it. It is way cheaper long term.

> It is way cheaper long term. Buying CDs would be so much more expensive than my Spotify subscription with the variety of music I listen to. Another helpful element of the streaming services is no incremental cost to try out a new movie or series. I can start a new show and drop it 15 minutes in if I decide I don’t like it. I will listen to 20 or more new bands each week on Spotify. It’s how I discover new music. Fo…

I don't think that logic really holds but its pushed by spotify. People used to listen to a lot of varied music -- and theres a lot of ways to do that still without paying for spotify.

Anyways Spotify is just a platform/gatekeeper for record labels to push their products and theres no way that spotify prices ever become static. They will need to continue to push more products through the model to continue to grow and pay for company especially as all the other players have wizened up.

FWIW if you lapse in payment they kill all your downloaded content immediately. Super annoying service. I get why but like 10 days after probably about 10 years of subscription seems like a real jerk move. Even content that wasn't theirs and was mine -- they wiped it. You own nothing.

Re: The same nine streaming subscriptions cost $702/year more than in 2021

#245

From an aesthetic point of view, I am getting pretty tired of this obviously LLM generated static site content template design in 2025/2026. 98% of the time when I see one of these it's a bunch of "content" generated by Claude or similar. Quoting the site: "Written by Rashid N. Rashid N is the editor of HonestlyRanked. He reviews every figure this site publishes against its source before it goes out, and has never ac…

I’m not meaning to be abrasive here, but these comments are also getting old and tired. And it’s not even relevant to what’s actually on the site linked. Who cares if the site is LLM generated? Did you care before when you saw the same Wordpress theme repeatedly, or Bootstrap layouts? The content is what’s interesting, and it is. Edit to clarify: I read the comment as the issue being the look and feel of the site bei…

> Who cares if the site is LLM generated?

Good people do.

Re: The same nine streaming subscriptions cost $702/year more than in 2021

#246
The title kind of buries important details about the distribution of these costs and their changes.

For example, Apple TV+ went from $4.99 per month to $14.99 per month, a +200% change, while YouTube Premium went from $11.99 to $15.99, a +33% change.

So services like Apple TV+ are skewing this increase a lot while services like YouTube Premium have remained relatively low. Similarly, Apple TV+ starting at $4.99 per month was clearly a very low price to start (which can probably be mostly attributed to the service's lack of content at that point). It's now at a "normal" price.

Just the same, saying something like something "costs $702/year more" without a point of reference is bad data presentation. The 2021 cost for all of these services was $1,150.92, for a +61% change. I'm not saying that's not substantial, but this kind of information is necessary for these figures to not just be rage bait.

And, of course, if you're simultaneously paying for Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max, Apple TV+, Paramount+, Peacock, YouTube Premium, and Spotify every month, then you're either (a) really into consuming this kind of content and are a "premium subscriber" in the sense that these costs ought to be justified or (b) very bad with managing your time and finances. I suspect normal users subscribe to one or two of these at a time and are probably willing to switch around as prices change, content gets released/pulled, etc. A better analysis would try to do some investigation into this dynamic, since it will probably reveal that people are able to navigate dynamic service subscriptions well enough that they aren't actually experiencing a straight-up +61% increase in costs since 2021.

All of this is to say that this "analysis" barely even qualifies as a valid first-pass at understanding this kind of data. It's literally something that Claude probably churned out in 20 minutes. Everyone can be dissatisfied with the value they get from these streaming services, but this kind of post only helps to muddy the conversation.

Re: The same nine streaming subscriptions cost $702/year more than in 2021

#247
post #21

Money comparisons that aren't inflation adjusted aren't "honest". They are in fact DIShonest.

Which metric of inflation are you adjusting it to? And which assumptions are built into the goods and services measured, as well as their respective weights, of that index?

That's a false dichotomy. An imperfectly measured inflation adjustment IS STILL VASTLY SUPERIOR to a non-adjusted number. By an enormous amount.

Re: The same nine streaming subscriptions cost $702/year more than in 2021

#248
post #21

Money comparisons that aren't inflation adjusted aren't "honest". They are in fact DIShonest.

How do you even measure inflation accurately, given the current government, and has there been 61% inflation over the last 5 years?

Economists exists, we have data on this. Don't be silly.

Re: The same nine streaming subscriptions cost $702/year more than in 2021

#249
post #9

What is the alternative to subscribing to streaming services? Can you purchase your movies online and be guaranteed to have access to the movies in the future?

You can stream your own stuff, from home, to all of your devices and your friends' devices, for free. And since the movies are on your own hardware, you have them forever. Movies, tv, music, books, comic books, video game roms, basically any sort of media you can even name. And it's been possible for you to do so for the last 15 years, maybe more.

Re: The same nine streaming subscriptions cost $702/year more than in 2021

#250

From an aesthetic point of view, I am getting pretty tired of this obviously LLM generated static site content template design in 2025/2026. 98% of the time when I see one of these it's a bunch of "content" generated by Claude or similar. Quoting the site: "Written by Rashid N. Rashid N is the editor of HonestlyRanked. He reviews every figure this site publishes against its source before it goes out, and has never ac…

I’m not meaning to be abrasive here, but these comments are also getting old and tired. And it’s not even relevant to what’s actually on the site linked. Who cares if the site is LLM generated? Did you care before when you saw the same Wordpress theme repeatedly, or Bootstrap layouts? The content is what’s interesting, and it is. Edit to clarify: I read the comment as the issue being the look and feel of the site bei…

> Who cares if the site is LLM generated?

Me. Because if there's no human checking the content I don't actually have a reliable signal that what I'm reading is true.

I'm not a subject matter expert here but I know that list includes Disney+ at $18.99 and Hulu at $18.99... but Disney and Hulu bundled together is $19.99. From the exact source the site cites:

https://www.macrumors.com/2025/09/23/disney-plus-price-incre...

A human doing the research would likely have picked up on that. An LLM that just reads everything literally does not.

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