How Much Can You Save by Subscribing to Every Major Ad-Supported Streamer? Are Ad-Supported, Annual Plans Worth It?

When the streaming revolution began, one of the most important aspects of this seismic shift in the entertainment landscape was that people were able to access their favorite shows and movies at a fraction of the cost of cable, satellite, and purchasing DVDs. However, as the economics of this new distribution model have evolved, the prices have rapidly escalated, and it is no longer clear if streaming actually is cheaper than the forms of TV and movie viewing that it replaced.

For many people, this has led to constantly churning through services based on the cyclical offerings each one presents and doing without shows and movies that they would love to see, but just can’t justify with their budgets. Fortunately, more and more subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) streaming services are introducing ad-supported plans in order to allow consumers to have access to the titles that they want to watch, but without having to spend nearly as much money.

As these pricing options have become available, the industry is seeing massive surges in formerly ad-free subscribers opting for the cheaper plans and customers who had refrained from subscribing in the past, joining individual streamers’ customer bases because the cost of entry is so much lower than it ever had been before. A recent study indicated that 33% of new streaming subscribers are opting for ad-supported plans, and that on some services, that number can climb to be as high as 76%.

So, just how much money can you save if you decide to forgo the ad-free experience of major streamers and instead sign up for their ad-supported tiers? We pulled together information for the seven biggest streaming services that offer both ad-free and ad-supported subscription plans, and the potential savings available are staggering.

How Much Can You Save If You Sign Up for Ad-Supported Monthly Streaming Subscriptions?

How Will Streaming Consolidation Impact Price Savings?

Over the next few months, these prices will shift a little bit. On May 23, Warner Bros. Discovery will unveil a new streaming service called Max that will combine the entirety of the HBO Max library with the vast majority of the content from discovery+. So, while it will not be a complete merger of the two corporate sibling services, it will be pretty close, and it will keep the current HBO Max pricing, with the addition of a new “Ultimate” tier that will cost $19.99 per month and come with extra features.

Also, this fall, Paramount Global will officially merge its premium cable brand Showtime with its flagship streaming platform Paramount+. While no official date has been announced for the eventual combination of services, it is planned for the third quarter of 2023. At that time, the new monthly rate for the streamer will be $11.99 for ad-free and $5.99 for ad-supported. The ad-free Premium tier will officially be redubbed as “Paramount+ With SHOWTIME,” and the added content is being used to justify the $2 price hike, while the already ad-supported Essentials tier will not see any of the Showtime content, so will only see a $1 increase.

Are Any Other Streaming Services Planning to Launch Ad-Supported Subscription Plans?

Earlier this week, AMC+ announced that it would be making an ad-supported plan available later this year, most likely timed with the launch of the fall television season. However, the company did not provide any details about what the price of the new tier would be. Currently, the single ad-free plan costs $8.99 per month and $83.88 annually. The ad-supported plan will likely come in around the $4.99 to $5.99 per month range, with a similarly priced annual plan, if they choose to have one.

Also, Apple TV+ has seemingly been ramping up to launch an ad-supported plan as well, hiring entertainment executives with experience in ad sales. However, to date, no official plans have been announced.

How Much Can You Save Per Month with the Disney Bundle?

Beyond just opting for the ad-supported subscription options, there are other ways to save as well. Over the past year, Disney has been leveraging the fact that it owns three streaming services — Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu — to encourage customers to sign up for more of the services that they might otherwise individually. The Disney Bundle has three primary options, but we are just going to focus on the Disney Duo Basic Bundle which is made up of the ad-supported versions of Disney+ and Hulu; ESPN+ is only offered as an ad-supported product, because of the live nature of sports.

So, with Disney+ and Hulu ad-free options costing $25.98 without the benefit of a bundle, the $9.99 Duo Basic represents a $15.99 savings per month, significantly more than the $10 you would save if you subscribed to the ad-supported plans individually. There is no Disney Bundle annual plan, meaning that if you opted for the Duo Basic bundle alongside all of the other ad-supported plans, you would save $46.99 monthly and $563.88 annually.

How Much Can You Save If You Sign Up for Ad-Supported Annual Streaming Subscriptions?

For various reasons, the availability of annual plans is hit or miss across streaming services. For example, Paramount+ has annual versions of both its ad-free Premium plan and ad-supported Essentials plan, but Disney+ only allows you to sign up annually at the higher-priced ad-free tier; therefore, we included that premium plan in the chart above.

Also, neither discovery+ nor Netflix currently offer any annual subscription plans, so we included the pricing for 12 months of the cheapest available monthly plan in our figures in the chart. As media companies continue to refocus their streaming efforts, there will inevitably be additional changes to the structure of their pricing plans, but it is curious that not every service is willing to allow customers to sign up for a year-long subscription.

One would think that given that churn rates neared 50% last year, services would want to lock in customers for as long as possible. Not only does that mean that the companies have the guaranteed 12 months of revenue, but it also means that the service has an entire year to become a habitual part of a customer’s entertainment viewing. Therefore, by the time their one year is up, it is more likely that they will think of the service as a necessary utility and less likely that they will consider unsubscribing.

How Much Can You Save Annually with the Disney Bundle?

While Disney+ does offer discounts for its annual plans, it doesn’t do so on its bundled options. So, if you turned down the annual options on Disney+ and Hulu and instead opted for the monthly Duo Basic plan, you would save an additional $70.10, bringing your annual savings total to $603.55.

Are Ad-Supported and Annual Streaming Service Subscription Plans Worth It?

From a purely financial point of view, opting for ad-supported and/or annual streaming plans will save you money, so in that sense, yes, it’s worth it, but depending on what you value most, the savings might not justify what you have to trade.

There really is no reason not to opt for the Disney Bundle if you are subscribing to both Disney+ and Hulu, so working strictly from those numbers. If you subscribe to all seven of these major services, you can save $46.99 per month and $603.55 annually if you go with the ad-supported plans. Depending on your tolerance for commercial interruptions, that might be worth it for you.

However, it is a bit harder to justify the annual plans when you look at the numbers. Going the Disney Bundle route, if you paid monthly for an entire year of these seven services’ ad-supported tiers, it would cost $575.16. However, if you opted for the available annual plans in the mix, it would run $463.61. Sure, that is $111.55 cheaper, but you would have to pay all of the subscription fees up front (depending on when each individual subscription began), and you would be locked in for an entire year.

If you paid the extra $111.55, you would do so in monthly installments and maintain the ability to cancel your service at any time during the year. So sure, there is a trade-off, but the value proposition is a little less clear on the annual plans than it is with the ad-supported subscription options.