Remember when Netflix was the only streaming service and $10/month gave you access to almost everything? Those days are gone.

The average Australian household now subscribes to three to four streaming services. At $12-$25 each, that’s $36-$100 per month. Add music streaming and the total creeps toward what we used to pay for cable TV.

The irony would be funny if it weren’t so expensive.

The Fragmentation Problem

Every media company decided they needed their own streaming platform. Disney pulled its content from Netflix. Warner Bros created Binge and Stan. Apple, Amazon, and Paramount jumped in. Now the content you want is scattered across half a dozen platforms.

This means you need multiple subscriptions to watch the shows you want. Or you need to be strategic about which services you pay for and when.

The Rotation Strategy

Here’s what actually works: don’t subscribe to everything simultaneously.

Pick one or two services as your permanent subscriptions. These are the ones you use most consistently. For most people, that’s Netflix (broadest library) and one other based on taste.

For everything else, rotate. Subscribe for a month, binge the shows you want to see, cancel. Subscribe to the next service. Repeat.

Most streaming services have no contract. You can cancel and resubscribe freely. They make it slightly annoying (Netflix shows you sad faces, Stan makes you confirm three times) but there’s no penalty.

The rotation approach typically saves $30-$50 per month compared to keeping everything active.

What Each Service Actually Offers

Netflix has the broadest range but quality is inconsistent. Good for casual browsing when you don’t know what you want to watch. Originals are hit-or-miss.

Stan is the best value Australian service for drama. Most HBO content lands here (Succession, The Last of Us, White Lotus). Worth subscribing when major HBO shows are airing.

Disney+ is essential if you have kids. For adults without children, the Marvel/Star Wars content is the main draw. Worth a month here and there, not necessarily year-round.

Binge has strong reality and documentary content. Some overlap with Stan.

Apple TV+ has the highest quality-to-quantity ratio. Fewer shows, but almost all of them are excellent (Severance, The Morning Show, Slow Horses). Worth a few months per year.

Amazon Prime Video comes with Amazon Prime membership, so if you use Prime for delivery, you’re already paying for it. The originals are uneven but occasionally excellent.

The Watch List Approach

Instead of mindlessly scrolling through multiple apps each evening, maintain a watch list.

When you hear about a show that interests you, note which platform it’s on. When you’ve accumulated enough shows on a specific platform, subscribe for a month and work through your list.

This reverses the relationship. Instead of paying for a platform and then looking for something to watch, you know what you want to watch and subscribe accordingly.

Family Sharing

If you’re paying for streaming individually and you have family or close friends, sharing plans can cut costs significantly.

Netflix’s Standard plan allows two screens. The Premium plan allows four. Split the cost with family members (remembering that Netflix has cracked down on broad password sharing, so this works best within households).

Most other services allow some level of profile or simultaneous viewing that makes sharing practical within a household.

Free Alternatives Worth Knowing

ABC iview and SBS On Demand are free and have surprisingly good content. SBS On Demand has an extensive international film library that rivals paid services for quality.

Kanopy is free with a library card in many Australian councils. Thousands of films and documentaries, including many you’d pay for elsewhere.

YouTube is free with ads and has more long-form content than ever. Documentaries, educational content, and independent creators producing high-quality material.

The Decision Framework

Here’s a simple framework for deciding what to keep:

1. If you haven’t opened a streaming app in the last two weeks, cancel it
2. Keep a maximum of two services active at any time
3. Check your bank statement quarterly for streaming subscriptions you’ve forgotten about
4. Before subscribing to something new, identify three specific things you’ll watch on it

Streaming should enhance your entertainment, not become a recurring cost you barely use.

The Bigger Picture

The streaming market will likely consolidate. Services will merge, content libraries will be bundled, and we’ll end up with something that looks suspiciously like the cable TV packages we thought we were escaping.

In the meantime, be an active consumer rather than a passive subscriber. Watch what you want to watch, pay for it strategically, and cancel what you’re not using.

Your entertainment budget is finite. Spend it on things you actually enjoy.