Remember when you only had to buy things once? Subscriptions are killing us in a cost-of-living crisis
As Mumbrella can exclusively reveal, Australia is currently in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis.
Politicians are arguing about the best way to drive energy costs down, the supermarkets are under investigation because of how expensive basic necessities like food and Fanta are becoming, and everyday Australians are adding up the costs of their various subscriptions, and deciding which ones they can live without.
National Australia Bank data found that 37% of Australians cut back on a streaming service in the first three months of the year. A third of NAB customers had also actively cut magazine, apps, and other subscriptions during the same period.
Repeating and updating my comment from SMH subscription rise article:
I subscribe to the SMH currently, mainly to support their investigative journalism. I also have all these:
$43 per month for SMH
$64 per month for AFR
$25 per month for Netflix (just downgraded quality due to price rise & but must stay ad-free)
$18 per month for Disney
$13 per month for AppleTV
$14 per month for Spotify
$15 per month for Stan
$10 per month for Prime (recently selected ad-free for $2.99 extra)
No one (who actually checks their various auto-renews) can afford all of this.
Best strategy is to go into your Apple account every so often and cancel all subscriptions and then re-subscribe if you have to.
What we are slowly ending up with is the same as we had when we were (if old now) young: three or four TV channels but instead of them being free with ads they cost $20-25 per month, also with ads. Win win win for media companies!
If the ABC can’t come out on top of the ratings during this cost of living crisis then they need a big kick.
Got to go now, going to have cold white bread and water whilst doom screening some old series I used to watch for free.