Last month, Apple TV became the latest streamer to inflict a price rise on Australians, joining Stan, Netflix, Kayo and Disney in having done so this year.

At the same time, big streamers are cutting back on the number of new shows they make, which means the nine in 10 Australians who regularly pay for a streaming service are getting less bang for their buck.

Netflix hit Stranger Things returns this year.

Video streaming in Australia took off in 2016, when Stan and Netflix launched their respective services. Both pitched themselves as an ad-free alternative to free-to-air television, and a cheaper, more accessible alternative to Foxtel. Netflix’s entry-level launch price was $8.99 a month, while Stan (acquired by Nine Entertainment, owner of this masthead, in 2018) hit the market with a $10 price tag.

Last month, Netflix pushed through its sixth price rise since its Australian launch, raising the floor to $20.99, a 133 per cent increase over the decade. In the early days for streamers, the market defined success through subscription growth, like most tech start-ups.

But the focus has shifted to a more traditional metric of business success – profit. That has meant the cost of streaming has moved from a single subscription to a tangled combination of subscriptions, including some with advertising, plus crackdowns on password-sharing, and a slow drip-feed of premium content.

In early 2022, Netflix reported a fall in subscribers for the first time. Its shares crashed as investors realised the days of unrestrained growth were over. Netflix responded with plans to launch a lower-cost subscription option that included ads, and a crackdown on password-sharing as a way to keep growing and make more........

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