Subscription ‘super-switchers’ could save hundreds of pounds a year without missing any of their favourite films and TV programmes, simply by rotating subscriptions instead of using all of them simultaneously.
Calculations by AJ Bell’s low-cost investing app Dodl, show that households running six of the most popular streaming services – Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney, YouTube Premium, Apple One and Paramount Plus – spend £995 a year*.
But by rotating subscriptions and running just one at a time, giving them access to each service for two months of the year, they could cut the cost to just £166, a saving of £829.
Here's how the numbers add up:
The ‘super-switcher’ principle applies to both individuals and family households. An individual with the same six subscriptions could save £649 using the same technique.
Even those with just a handful of subscriptions could save hundreds by cutting down. Someone with three streaming subscriptions - Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney - could save £280 a year by using just one of them every other month. A family could save £330 doing the same.
Keeping track of your outgoings and budgeting effectively is often an important first step in getting to grips with your personal finances, making it easier to build rainy-day savings and start investing toward longer-term financial goals. Calculations from the Dodl investing app show that an £829 annual saving could grow to nearly £11,000 in a decade (see below).
With a number of streaming providers raising prices, or announcing future changes, it could be a good time to think about becoming a super-switcher.
Emma Keywood, head of planning at AJ Bell’s Dodl, comments:
“We’ve all been guilty of signing up to a subscription and then not using it, or signing up to a free trial and forgetting to cancel it. On top of that, during the pandemic lots of us added more and more streaming services, which we’re now realising are costing us a lot each month.
“You might not think that saving £8 or £9 a month will help with your budget, but these figures highlight how becoming a subscription super-switcher can actually make a big difference to your household finances.
“Some people might need to use the savings to plug their budget elsewhere, helping offset the impact of rising living costs. But if you can afford to save the money it is possible to build up a sizeable pot of money over time.
“Everyone has to start somewhere when it comes to getting to grips with money, budgeting and building a financial plan for the future. Managing your subscriptions effectively could be a stepping-stone to developing a much clearer plan of all your incomings and outgoings, which is the foundation of developing a long-term plan that allows you to focus on investing for the future.”
Turning super-switcher to super-saver
Some subscription super-switchers will use the money saved to help with day-to-day costs amid the rising cost of living.
For others that can afford to set the money aside for the long-term, the annual saving could be used to help them grow a sizeable pot of money.
AJ Bell’s figures illustrate how taking the annual saving and investing it for the future could help grow a pot of money over the long-term:
* Calculations from AJ Bell’s investing app Dodl, one of the lowest cost investment services in the market with an annual fee of 0.15% and no charges for buying and selling investments. Subscription costs based on the price of subscriptions in the UK at the time of writing. Costs for a family are based on a subscription to the premium/multi-device option, or the standard subscription where that is the only one available. No allowance is made for any discounted offers that may be available to new customers. Calculations assume a rolling monthly subscription is held for the entire year, although some providers may offer lower priced annual contracts. ‘Super-switcher’ cost based on services being rotated over a year, with each held for two months.
**Full annual saving from rotating subscriptions (Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney, YouTube Premium, Apple One and Paramount Plus) is invested with an assumed annual return of 5%. Subscription prices are not adjusted in subsequent years. The £829 total annual saving is invested at the start of year one, with the same amount added in each subsequent year. Saving of £649 for an individual, based on single user/standard subscription costs for the same six subscriptions.