Why we keep paying for subscription streaming services and how to break the cycle

It’s safe to say that the sun is setting on the empire of cable TV. From a peak of around 100 million subscribers in the mid-2010s to around 68 million today, cable TV’s decline has been precipitous. At the same time, the world’s largest streaming provider, Netflix, has around 66 million US subscribers and over 300 million worldwide. Still, even as streaming’s star has been ascendent, it’s beginning to be a victim of its own success.

Netflix used to be the only fish in an enormous sea of disgruntled cable users. Today, it’s one of hundreds of streaming services globally that people watch using their favorite streaming devices. As the number of streaming service providers grows, so does consumer fatigue with keeping up with the torrent of options. Even though the price of streaming is generally cheaper than cable, people feel overwhelmed by the burden of so many services. If the burden of maintaining our stable of streaming services is so onerous, why do we keep them, and why is it so hard to cancel them?

Why we subscribe to streaming services

When Netflix began offering its streaming services independent of its physical DVD rental service in 2011, the price was $8 a month for all the TV you could watch. Compare that to the average price of cable at the same time, which was $86 a month. Given the drastic disparity in prices and the increasing availability of high-speed internet, it’s no wonder streaming occupies the privileged position it currently does in the media landscape.

This is only part of the subscription equation. Although price may be an important consideration, our purchases are motivated by more than money, and subscriptions in particular come with their own set of unique psychological motivations.

Freedom from ownership

One of the most obvious is freedom from ownership, specifically from the responsibility of ownership. Taking care of a DVD or Blu-ray collection can be a pain. Collections are expensive, and you have to worry about where to put them, how to take care of them, and how to take care of the equipment to watch them.

Abandoning ownership also liberates you from social risk. By exchanging ownership for access, you don’t have to worry about your friends discovering that you’re listening to vocaloid-driven hyperpop or watching too much reality TV.

Feeling the feels

Emotional stimulation might be the most overlooked motivator of buying streaming subscriptions. Life is boring, and we yearn to feel something, whether it’s joy or anger or something in between. Streaming movies, TV, and music allows us to feel in the safety of our homes. Is the manufactured catharsis of mass media a poor substitute for the real deal? Sure, but sometimes it’s enough to get us through to the weekends.

An often overlooked emotional driver pushing people to subscribe to streaming services is nostalgia. Spotify’s massive library of music lets you listen to the tracks you grew up with. Disney+ has all the Star Wars and Marvel content collected into one place. Netflix churns out nostalgia-bait like Stranger Things and hosts sitcom classics like Seinfeld. If you long to feel like it’s a simpler time and escape the mundanity of the present, you can do it online.

They’re manipulating you

The companies that run the streaming giants are experts in consumer manipulation. One of their tactics that is easiest to spot is fear of missing out — FOMO. This is the same trick used by video game console makers and free-to-play developers (I’m looking at you Pokémon GO). Why should you get Netflix? It’s the only one with Squid Game. Want to watch Invincible? Better get Amazon Prime. On the other side of the FOMO token is insider privilege. If you want to join the discourse for Severance, you’ll need an Apple TV subscription.

Streaming companies have other psychological tricks in their arsenal that are designed around how we think about money. The most blatant is charm pricing. That’s when they shave $0.01 off the subscription price, and your brain feels like it’s getting a deal at $19.99 a month instead of getting ripped off at $20 a month. A more subtle tactic is tiered pricing, where you can choose between bad service, high prices, or something in the middle that appears reasonable compared to the other options.

Why it’s hard to unsubscribe from streaming services

There are a few reasons why it can be hard to give up a subscription. One of the most frustrating aspects is that most service providers go out of their way to make the cancellation process difficult. This usually manifests in dark design patterns. These dark patterns can be literal and take the form of a low-contrast Unsubscribe button buried beneath a wall of fine print or an unsubscribe page hidden behind a maze of hyperlinks. Either way, the purpose is to make unsubscribing so difficult that you put it off until later.

Some services take a different tack and adopt a practice called confirmshaming. “Are you sure you want to unsubscribe when you can continue receiving this incredible service that only makes your life better,” or “Do you want to continue with your cancellation and abandon all the joy in your life by giving up the one thing that gives it meaning?” This is basically corporate negging, and it’s gross.

The difficulty of unsubscribing doesn’t rest entirely on the shoulders of the streaming service providers. Some of it is the evolutionary baggage hanging around in our monkey brains. At the top of this list is the sunk-cost fallacy, the idea that abandoning your subscription now is tantamount to walking away from an investment without getting a return. Maybe if you pay for a few more months, you’ll find a show you really like.

How to quit your subscription

Now that you know some of the tricks companies use to sign us up for their services, and some of the inherent weaknesses in our brain, it’s time to trim the subscription fat.

Conduct a subscription audit

The first step is to figure out what your subscriptions are. Providers want you to forget because automatic renewals aren’t about customer convenience. They’re there so that Spotify keeps getting paid even if you don’t remember you have it. Check your bank, PayPal, and Google Play statements to figure out what you have.

Evaluate your needs

Now that you know what your subscriptions are, separate your needs from your wants. Do you have a long commute every day? Maybe your Spotify subscription is worth keeping. Are you caught up with The Wheel of Time? Maybe it’s time to cancel Amazon Prime. Figure out what’s important to you, keeping in mind how you can deceive yourself.

Figure out how to cancel your subscription

Now that you know what you’re subscribed to and which subscriptions you want to keep, it’s time to cut the rest. Some services make this harder than others, but you have a friend to help you cancel your plan.

Best subscription practices going forward

Subscriptions are impossible to escape in today’s media landscape, so before you sign up to Hulu on a lark, keep this parting advice in mind. First, indulge in that flash sale that gives you a lower price for a limited time, find a good calendar app, and set a reminder to cancel it on your phone. Second, consider using a virtual credit card to make your payments. Then, if someone wants to make it hard to cancel, you can delete your virtual card instead of dealing with the drama.