Everything is now a subscription — and Americans are willing to pay.
The average American has 5.2 subscriptions and spends about $69 a month on them, or $830 a year, according to a survey of 2,500 U.S. consumers from subscription-bundling service Bango.
However, almost a quarter of those surveyed said they are spending more on subscriptions than they can afford, with that number rising sharply to 41 percent amongst Gen Z participants.
As subscriptions become increasingly more expensive, Americans are also opting for something once considered unimaginable: They are willing to accept more ads if it means lower subscription costs.
The shift is taking place largely among subscribers to major streaming services, with 52 percent of Apple TV users, 48 percent of Disney+ users, 47 percent of HBO Max users, 44 percent of Netflix users and 40 percent of Amazon Prime Video users saying they would accept more ads if it meant their bill was cheaper.
The study found that 36 percent of Americans would sit through twice as many ads if it lowered their monthly cost. That percentage rises among Millennials to 46 percent and 49 percent for Gen Z.
Subscriptions have been around for decades, though they have more recently exploded. A 2023 Harvard Business School study found that almost 75 percent of companies that sell directly to customers offer subscriptions.
Now, people can pay for subscriptions for nearly anything: Car washes, beauty treatments, niche hobby boxes, and even subscriptions to manage their subscriptions.
While it has become the new norm, some Americans are growing tired of the trend.
“I don’t think there’s a single thing you can sign up for at this point that isn’t trying to give you a subscription,” Shonit Kaluri, 27, told The New York Times. “You end up wasting a lot of money through subscriptions because you think you’ll save money up front.”
Kaluri previously paid for a Club Pret coffee subscription from the cafe chain Pret A Manger, costing $50 a month for up to five drinks a day.
“If I was buying three dollars of coffee, twice a day, I actually come up on top. But at the end of the day, I didn’t actually get the $50 worth,” Kaluri said.
It comes at a time when the average cost of a digital subscription has shot up 19 percent since 2020, according to a study from banking site DepositAccounts.
Those higher prices prompted 37 percent of consumers to cancel at least one of their subscriptions in the past six months.
The services with the biggest price jumps include Disney+, Apple TV, Xbox Game Pass, the New York Times and Hulu, the study found.
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