📱Streaming In 2025 Is Getting More Expensive

In today’s newsletter we discuss streaming in 2025 is getting more expensive, the Razzies are out and everyone still hates ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’, Barron Trump is starting his own real estate company, LeBron James almost joined the NFL and signed with Reebok, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has invested in 22 AI startups, and Jay-Z’s not just a Businessman. He’s a Business, Man!

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WHAT WE’RE READING

📱 Streaming In 2025 Is Getting More Expensive

Riddle me this: what goes up, but never goes down?

Give up?

Steaming prices!

Netflix is fresh off an amazing 2024, where they added 19 million new subscribers is just the 4th Quarter alone, and on top of drawing in 108 million viewers worldwide for the Mike Tyson and Jake Paul boxing match, they’ve announced they are raising their prices by $2.50 a month from $15.49 to $17.99.

Netflix is not only the most profitable streaming service, but it’s also the world's largest streaming service by subscriber count coming in at over 300 million subscribers worldwide.

So why the price increase?

Not to be too snarky, but because they can…and they’re not alone.

In October 2024 Disney+ raised their monthly ad-free streaming service price from $13.99 per month to $15.99 per month. In August 2024 ad-free Paramount+ with Showtime raised their prices by $1 a month from $11.99 to $12.99 per month; an increase of $1 per month. Peacock raised their prices in July 2024 by $2 a month from $11.99 a month for ad-free to $13.99 a month for their Premium plan. It’s been a while since Apple TV+ raised their prices, so I’m guessing an increase is right around the corner. Back in October of 2023 they increased their monthly ad-free subscription from $6.99 to the current $9.99 a month. Max last raised their monthly ad-free plan from $15.99 a month to $16.99 a month in June of 2024. And lastly Hulu last raised their prices in October of 2023 as well, going from $17.99 to their current $18.99 a month.

Monthly pricing plans without ads:

Netflix: $17.99 / month
Disney+: $15.99 / month
Paramount+: $12.99 / month
Peacock: $13.99 / month
Apple TV+: $9.99 / month
Hulu: $18.99 / month
Max: $16.99 / month

With all of the major streaming services hiking their prices within the last year or so, I think it’s a safe bet that consumers will continue to ping-pong from service-to-service as they binge watch their favorite series, cancel one subscription, and then move onto the next. Or is that just me?

💼 Business

Jay-Z is always on the cutting edge, whether it be music, fashion, or business. Now his firm Roc Nation has partnered with a South Korean fintech company named Musicow to usher in a new way for investors to back music royalties.

How’s it all work?

According to an article on Hot 97 “the new platform lets fans invest in music royalties, earning income from artists they love. Meanwhile, rights holders can exchange royalty shares, and creators have the option to sell track fractions.”

Jay-Z’s not just a Businessman. He’s a Business, Man!

🎬 Entertainment

The Razzies are out, and as usual they weren’t kind to some of Hollywood’s biggest flops. Everyone’s favorite movie to hate on in 2024, which I still haven’t seen and will be honest may never watch, was the movie ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga.

🤖 AI

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has been a busy investor in AI startups, having invested in 22 of the hottest AI startups including Anthropic, Holistic AI, SandboxAQ, Optiml, Altera, and Inworld AI. It’s nice to have inside connections to startups that most individual investors can only dream of.

🏡 Real Estate

Barron Trump is following in his family’s footsteps and launching his own real estate company. No word yet on when he’ll declare his first bankruptcy.

🏀 Sports

LeBron James has been in the news as rumors persist about his possible retirement. I’m not saying he’s going to retire at the end of this NBA season, but he did just check off a major bucket list item by playing in the NBA on the same team as his son Bronny James.

Maybe he’s been feeling a little retrospective lately, but LeBron James has been opening up in recent interviews about a range of topics. Among them he revealed that during the 2011 NBA lockout he strongly considered switching sports to play in the NFL as a Wide Receiver, but a dream actually kept him from pursuing it when he realized in his dreams he was more focused on the sport of football than actually envisioning himself playing. Good call, otherwise the NBA might not be the league it is today thanks to LeBron James!

LeBron James also shared that when he was 18 years old he turned down a $10 million dollar deal from Reebok, because to be honest what every 18 year old basketball player really wants to be is like Mike and sign with Nike.

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irl Media NEWSLETTER is written, edited, and published by Chris Thompson.