‘Need an excel sheet to track my OTT subscriptions’

2 hours ago 2

ARTICLE AD BOX

Keeping track of all the subscribed platforms has become a task

Not long back, streaming services meant no ads, no dish TV, no waiting for content – stream anytime, anywhere, anything. But now, keeping track of all the subscribed platforms has become a task.

From Netflix, Prime Video and Jio Hotstar to Zee5, MUBI, SonyLIV, Apple TV and even regional OTT apps – not to mention that random sports add-on you forgot to cancel after a tournament – when did we end up with so many platforms? Viewers say sometimes streaming platform subscriptions work like FOMO on autopay – You don’t know how much you’re paying because it’s all on autodebit. And in the constant chase for the next best thing from every app, you never quite get around to unsubscribing.

We spoke to viewers to understand how they are navigating streaming.Why viewers rarely unsubscribeFor many, the answer lies in anticipation – the constant promise that something good is always just around the corner. “You keep hearing things like, ‘next season is coming up,’ ‘this show has been announced,’ ‘that movie premieres next month.’ So once you’ve subscribed, you don’t really unsubscribe – you feel like you’ll miss out on the show everyone’s suddenly talking about.

“I’ve kept Amazon Prime for the next season of Paatal Lok or The Family Man , and Jio Hotstar for The White Lotus.

Netﬂix stays for international content,” says Ritambhara Saxena, a viewer in her 20s. Then there’s the ‘Upcoming’ section – a subtle but effective retention tool. “I check the upcoming tab regularly and add things to my watchlist. Even if there’s nothing interesting right now, that tab convinces me to stay,” says Amrita Chandan, another regular viewer.It’s not just fear of missing out – it’s fear of the hassle that comes with resubscribing. She adds, ”A lot of my friends say, ‘What if I unsubscribe and then something drops, and now I have to sign in again, reset my password, etc?’ So they just keep it.”Subscribe, autopay, forgetMost viewers who end up subscribing to multiple streaming platforms tend to forget just how many subscriptions they’ve signed up for. Yash Chhabra, who is in his 40s, shares his list and says, “The worst part is that I don’t even know what the total amount is – it’s all on autopay.”Subscribe now, forget later has become quite common. The question at present isn’t ‘Do I use this?’ but ‘Is there something here just in case I want to watch it later?’ “Last year, I subscribed to a platform just to watch one ﬁlm. I thought I’d cancel it later. A year later, I got a message asking if I wanted to continue the subscription. That’s when I remembered I still had it,” says another viewer Amrita Chandan. “Sometimes it feels like you need an excel sheet to keep track of all the platforms,” she adds.Tushar, an 18-year-old viewer, says, “With the number of platforms and rising costs, it gets overwhelming. I often ﬁnd myself skipping subscriptions altogether and… let’s just say, rely on alternative ways to watch content.”Stacking of subscriptionsJust because you pay for a streaming service doesn’t mean you can watch everything on that platform. Some ﬁlms need to be rented or bought separately on platforms like Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video.

A monthly fee often doesn’t cover everything.It’s the new normal – subscriptions stacked within subscriptions, platforms offering add-ons, rentals, bundles, and paywalls inside paywalls. Mili Peter, a viewer in her early 40s says, “Still, I won’t cancel it. Because I don’t want to lose the library.”

Most viewers who end up subscribing to multiple streaming platforms tend to forget just how many subscriptions they’ve signed up for.