Raad is pragmatic about her streaming services, keeping only those she and her husband use consistently. They have streamlined their choices down to just two subscriptions. Each month, they carefully review their expenses, and if they find a service isn’t providing enough value, they don’t hesitate to cancel it.

“We really budget very carefully,” she elaborates. “I feel like if that wasn’t the case—which I assume for a lot of people it’s not necessarily the case—then yes, the cost definitely gets too much and it adds up.”

The subscription surge

Deloitte’s annual Media & Entertainment Consumer Insights report shows that the number of subscriptions per household has risen by 12 per cent since last year and by 61 per cent since 2021.

“It’s not surprising that those numbers are quite high and that we are paying a lot more than we probably were five or ten years ago.”

The ‘Hotel California effect’

“Because there’s very little interoperability. It’s really hard to suddenly move from one platform to another … you are often locked in by the service.”

A 2024 CPRC report reveals that nearly half of Australians spend more time than planned trying to cancel their subscriptions, and one in ten give up while attempting to cancel a subscription.

“That is very much how these websites have been designed.”

Australians ‘learning to touch grass’

For example, in 2025, Australians spent almost an hour less on streaming video services, according to the report.

He said the reasons for this “isn’t quite clear”, but “It could be a mix of factors, including — after a peak in screen time during COVID, consumers are choosing more ‘in person’ entertainment forms, or changing preferences for the content mix offered across media categories”.

Less time scrolling, more desire for creating

“Although the extent of this decline is inconsistent across demographics, as different age groups use social media in different ways for different purposes.”