By Carson Vercoe | Sports Writer
Last weekend I laid down in my bed, opened my computer and got ready to watch a movie. I opened up Netflix and started looking, but after 10 minutes I hadn’t found what I was looking for. Then I tried another streaming platform and another one after that; by the time I was done, I didn’t even want to watch the movie.
Watching TV used to be simple.
You would scroll through the channels and find something interesting to watch. If you wanted to watch a specific movie, you could rent it without having to search through multiple platforms to find it.
But that’s gone now.
Streaming services such as Netflix, Prime Video, Disney Plus and countless others were designed to make watching the things you wanted to watch simple. You can watch whatever you want, whenever you want.
Instead of having to see if your movie or show was going to be on one of the channels from your cable, you could access countless shows and movies with a click of a button and a monthly fee.
But year after year, streaming services have slowly become more complex.
Now, streaming services feel like pulling teeth when trying to search for a movie. Viewers have to go through six different platforms looking for a movie or show before they start watching as well, as still making sure they have the subscription for it.
The problem is not the amount of TV on these platforms because having access to all of these still is a great thing.
The problem is how these streaming services have divided their content across so many platforms that watching a movie feels like an expensive chore.
According to a 2025 study from Deloitte, an average household pays for four different streaming platforms. The monthly cost for streaming services has also risen 13%, with 41% even questioning if the price is worth it.
A 2025 Study from YouGov found that of the 49% of Americans who changed their streaming subscriptions, 66% said cost was a driving force in their decision.
But perhaps an even more concerning number is 36% of Americans stated they are paying for a streaming service they haven’t used in six months.
People are paying for services they don’t even use.
Obviously, streaming is not going anywhere, with it accounting for a record-high 47.3% of all television consumption.
But the popularity of streaming doesn’t mean there aren’t holes in it.
It’s frustrating looking on six different platforms for a movie and even more infuriating when you learn the movie you want to watch is on a platform you don’t have.
These companies need to start remembering what made streaming services better than cable. The convenience, low prices and the ability to watch what people wanted to watch.
But for many companies, they fell right back into the cycle of frustrations that cable created.
These streaming services need to learn the balance between convenience for the consumer and the competitiveness between their competitors.
We as viewers don’t need to go through three streaming platforms to watch a movie, and we certainly don’t need to pay tons of money for it.
Watching a movie provides an escape from responsibility; it shouldn’t feel like another one.
