Research: US streaming consumers prioritise low price
July 13, 2026
As streaming services face more competition than ever to capture viewers, success is no longer determined by programming alone. With inflation concerns higher than they were a year ago, affordability has become an increasingly important factor in evaluating their monthly spend.
Hub Entertainment Research’s annual How to Monetise Video study reveals the key factors that set streaming services apart. As consumers remain price-conscious, sports content and strategic bundling offer meaningful opportunities to increase subscriber retention.
Key findings from the report include:
Consumers aren’t spending any more on TV this year than they have in the past.
The average user is currently spending $82 per month on subscription TV services, which has remained consistent since 2023. When asked how much the maximum is that they’d be willing to spend, there’s a slight uptick this year to $93 per month – suggesting that rising inflation has forced them to acknowledge that they may need to spend more, even if they don’t want to.
Year-over-year, price concerns have skyrocketed – with “low price” increasing significantly as the #1 priority when considering the value of a streaming service.
To clarify how viewers prioritise different aspects of TV services, this study asked respondents to rank what they value most when judging a TV service.
· The top 5 most important attributes show notable shifts since 2025. Below are the percentage ‘share of value’ scores each factor contributes to the total value of a TV service:
· The importance of ‘low price’ has increased from 12 per cent to 21 per cent, signaling that consumers are ‘wallet-first’ and more price sensitive than ever.
· The increased availability of live sports across streamers has nearly doubled the importance of sports content (from 6.7 per cent per cent to 13 per cent) for fans looking to access their favourite leagues and games (exemplified by the Olympics and World Cup).
· Premium no-ad tiers still hold value for those willing to pay: having ‘no ads so you can avoid ads’ is as important as it was last year for users willing to pay extra for ad-free services.
· Access to all seasons and episodes and being able to binge watch remain significantly valuable – for favorite shows, people want to watch on their own schedules, behavior that Netflix cemented long ago.
Streaming users give free streamers (Tubi, Pluto, Roku) the highest ‘excellent’ value scores
Other premium streamers like HBO Max, Apple TV, Disney+ and Netflix cluster just below those free services.
· Notably, YouTube Premium service users give it top scores, reflecting the broad value that ad-free service provides across both video and music.
“Marketing that leads with ‘free’ and ‘low price’ will continue to capture consumers first,” said Jason Platt Zolov, Senior Consultant at Hub. “Signaling the value of unique sports content, bundled with a portfolio of premium content, will best match consumer priorities that keep them subscribing.”
These findings are from Hub’s survey conducted among 1,600 US consumers ages 16-74 with broadband access. Interviews were conducted in June 2026.
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