The costs of streaming without ads are increasing.
Peacock just raised prices for the fourth time in four years latest example of power inflation. As of Tuesday, the NBCUniversal-owned streamer will cost $12.99 per month for its main ad plan, up from $10.99, while the ad-free plan rose from $16.99 to $19.99 per month – the same price as Netflix’s standard ad-free plan.
Every major streaming service has increased prices in the last twelve months.
It would cost a total of more than $137 per month to separately purchase the ad-free versions of Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max, Peacock, Paramount+, Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video.
However, savvy consumers can save by bundling or trading in for ad-supported versions.
It would cost just over $100 per month to get all eight of these ad-free streamers by purchasing the HBO Max-Hulu-Disney+ bundle (which costs $32.99 per month instead of $56.47 a la carte) and pairing Peacock with Apple TV for $19.99 per month (that’s how much Peacock costs on its own after the new price hike).
Ad-free streamers’ increasingly higher prices It seems that many viewers are selecting advertising plans instead.
According to the subscription data company, almost half of all premium streaming subscriptions are supported by ads, at 48% Antenna’s June report. That’s up from 39% in the first quarter of 2024. Antenna also found that 59% of new subscriptions were for ad-supported subscriptions, in line with levels over the past two years.
A major red flag for paid streamers is that cancellations of ad-free subscriptions exceeded sign-ups in the first quarter, Antenna found.
Ad-free streaming services lost more customers than they gained in the first quarter, Antenna found. Antenna
It costs about $75 per month for the a la carte ad-supported versions of Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max, Peacock, Paramount+ and Amazon Prime Video (Apple TV has no ad tier). With bundles, consumers could reduce that amount to just under $60.
Free streamers are gaining popularity due to electricity inflation
Viewers are also attracted free services such as YouTubeTubi and the Roku Channel.
The leading free streamers made up 19.1% of U.S. TV viewership in May, Nielsen found, up from a 17.2% share in May 2025.
In response to this Hollywood giants like DisneyParamount Skydance and Netflix are explore free offers to attract price-conscious viewers.
However, there are risks in giving the public free access to content they are used to paying for.
“Give away too little, and consumers won’t participate,” media industry analyst Paolo Pescatore of PP Foresight said of streamers’ free tiers. “If you give away too much, the company risks undermining the subscription model it is trying to support.”
