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Streaming service overload: 27% of people now pay over $100 per month in subscriptions

With more than 100 TV and movie streaming subscription services available, many customers are spending as much on them as they would on cable.

Alison DeNisco Rayome Managing Editor
Managing Editor Alison DeNisco Rayome joined CNET in 2019, and is a member of the Home team. She is a co-lead of the CNET Tips and We Do the Math series, and manages the Home Tips series, testing out new hacks for cooking, cleaning and tinkering with all of the gadgets and appliances in your house. Alison was previously an editor at TechRepublic.
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Alison DeNisco Rayome
2 min read
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Customers are starting to experience subscription service overload.

Matthew Moskovciak/CNET

Cord cutters are starting to experience subscription overload thanks to the 100+ streaming services now available and more on the way, according to survey results Tuesday from Amdocs Media. Despite the belief that ditching cable for streaming services will save you money, 27% of Americans now spend more than $100 a month on media and entertainment subscription services, potentially including cable, the survey found. For context, the average cable customer spends about $100 per month. 

Persuading customers to pay for more streaming services could be a challenge: Of the 1,000 US consumers surveyed, 59% said they are happy with their current subscriptions and not looking to make any changes. Another 22% said they would consider adding another service, but only if something new came to market -- which will be the case very soon, with Disney Plus, Apple TV Plus, NBC's Peacock and others on the way. 

When asked what would lead customers to consider changing streaming subscriptions, the top response was price (37%), followed by more content (22%), customer service (9%), personalized content (8%), fewer ads (7%) and peer recommendations (6%), according to the survey. 

Nearly 60% of Americans now use some form of streaming service, with the majority using Netflix, according to a 2018 CNBC survey. However, 47% reported feeling frustrated with the growing number of subscriptions and services required to watch the shows they want, a March Deloitte survey found. 

To win customers, streaming providers are going to have to keep adding strong content while keeping the price right. They'll also have to find a way to hold onto "sometimes streamers": customers who sign up to watch a certain show and cancel it when it ends (I definitely know people who did this for Game of Thrones on HBO and The Handmaid's Tale on Hulu ).

"The availability and access to streaming content [are] increasing, but so are consumer expectations, particularly around cost, ease of access and contextual experience," Darcy Antonellis, head of Amdocs Media, said in a news release. 

For more, check out CNET's list of the best live TV streaming services for cord cutters

Watch this: Top 5 streaming services for live TV

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