From €7.99 to €19.99: How streaming prices have evolved since 2014

When Netflix launched in Germany in 2014, the offering was simple: one subscription, one price, no frills. Subscribers at the time paid 7.99 Euros per month. Today, the same standard plan costs 13.99 Euros – and that's not even the most expensive subscription in their portfolio.

Ten years later, the market is almost unrecognizable: multiple price tiers, ad-supported plans, password-sharing bans, annual increases. How much have prices really risen – and what does that mean for users?

Netflix: +67% for the Premium subscription

The Netflix Premium subscription has seen a price increase of around 67 percent over twelve years – from 11.99 to 19.99 Euros. The standard plan has also risen from 7.99 to 13.99 Euros, which corresponds to a 75 percent increase. A cheaper ad-supported plan has been added for 4.99 Euros – those who choose it will watch up to five minutes of ads per hour.

Amazon: Silent increase through mandatory ads

Amazon Prime Video was long the cheapest of the big three. For years, the subscription cost 5.99 Euros; in 2022, the price rose to 8.99 Euros. The real blow came in early 2024: Amazon introduced ads in the basic plan. Those who want to continue watching ad-free pay an extra 2.99 Euros – making a total of 11.98 Euros, an increase of almost 100 percent compared to the original price.

Disney+: From bargain to regular price

Disney+ launched in 2020 at 6.99 Euros as a cheap alternative to Netflix. Meanwhile, the standard ad-free plan costs 10.99 Euros, and the Premium subscription is 15.99 Euros. Here too, there's a cheaper entry-level plan – with ads.

Ads as a second price increase

Platforms have discovered a new way to increase revenue without risking the outcry of a classic price hike: ad-supported entry-level plans. The model is simple – if you don't want to pay, you watch ads. If you don't want ads, you pay more.

The strategy has consequences: According to a recent study, 24 percent of German subscribers have already canceled a subscription due to the introduction of ads.

What users actually pay

A study by TH Köln and Bauhaus University Weimar (2025) shows: Users operate an average of about 2.5 streaming services simultaneously – but their willingness to pay is clearly limited. Few want to spend more than 28 Euros per month for all subscriptions combined.

The reality is different: According to a Bango study, Germans currently spend an average of 57 Euros per month on streaming – 684 Euros per year, with an average of 3.3 subscriptions. Further figures from the Simon-Kucher Streaming Study 2024:

  • 33% of Germans feel they are spending too much on streaming
  • More than one in four has access to more services than they actually use
  • One in three plans to cancel at least one subscription in the next 12 months

The free alternative

This is precisely where a model that has long been underestimated is gaining importance: AVOD – ad-supported streaming without subscription costs. Platforms like wedotv offer access to series, movies, and live TV without a monthly fee. For users annoyed by rising SVoD prices, this is a real alternative – not a compromise, but a different model.

Conclusion

The streaming landscape has evolved from a simple, affordable offering into a complex, expensive market. Those who wish to use all major services today quickly pay more than they once did for a traditional cable package. The question is no longer whether prices will continue to rise, but how long users will tolerate it.

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