How Much Are We Paying for Our Subscription Services? A Lot (Published 2020)

According to an analysis earlier this year by Mint.com for the New York Times, each of us in the U.S. spent on average $640 on digital subscriptions in 2019, up from $598 in 2017.

While newspaper executives would argue that, in 2019, it more difficult to persuade consumers to pay for journalism, a private 2PM poll identified that the average earner between $90,000 and $250,000 pays for 17.2 monthly subscriptions across media, entertainment, and utility. Of that 17.2 monthly recurring fees, an average of 5.7 were devoted to w... See more

In 2018, NYT tested a new price for their flagship digital news product: $1 per week for a year. After that, it would renew at a higher rate (full price is $17 per month).

When you look beneath the surface at where the average person spends their money, you see the many opportunities for subscriptions, as well as the existing subscription characteristics of a lot of spend. Housing is effectively already a “subscription” via mortgages or rent for most people. For those who lease vehicles, the bulk of Transportation sp... See more

Doing some calculations examining the total amount of attention given to different forms of media, Kevin discovered that, on average, people surrender their attention for just $3/hour!

A recent TiVo report found that the average TV watcher subscribes to as many as seven streaming services, and that 84% of them wanted some way to browse and search it all in one place.

As with the hand-wringing over millennial cord-cutting, the limitations of supporting 10+ independent creators at $10 a month is similar to the impracticality of a Hulu, HBO, Criterion, Topic, Netflix and Amazon Prime subscription (phew). The pendulum has swung back to bundling–whether in a form like Every, or some sweet Atlantic media money.