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[Liliane Hubright]

Offer subject to change. Receive Netflix Standard with ads while you maintain 1 qualifying Go5G Next, Go5G Plus or Magenta Max line or 2+ Go5G or Magenta lines in good standing. Netflix account, plan availability & compatible device required. Alternative discount toward different Netflix streaming plans may apply. Not redeemable or refundable for cash; cannot be exchanged for Netflix gift subscriptions. Cancel Netflix anytime. Netflix Terms of Use apply: www.netflix.com/termsofuse. 1 offer per T-Mobile account; for existing Netflix members it may take 1-2 bill cycles during which time you will continue to be charged separately for any existing Netflix account. If you link an existing Netflix account to this offer, terminating the qualifying line(s) will not automatically cancel your Netflix membership, and Netflix will automatically resume charging your existing payment method that they have on file. Like all plans, features may change or be discontinued at any time; see T-Mobile Terms and Conditions at T-Mobile.com for details.

Offer subject to change. Receive Netflix Standard with ads while you maintain a qualifying line in good standing. Netflix account, plan availability & compatible device required. Alternative discount toward different Netflix streaming plans may apply. Not redeemable or refundable for cash; cannot be exchanged for Netflix gift subscriptions. Cancel Netflix anytime. Netflix Terms of Use apply: www.netflix.com/termsofuse. 1 offer per T-Mobile account; for existing Netflix members it may take 1-2 bill cycles during which time you will continue to be charged separately for any existing Netflix account. If you link an existing Netflix account to this offer, terminating the qualifying line will not automatically cancel your Netflix membership, and Netflix will automatically resume charging your existing payment method that they have on file. Like all plans, features may change or be discontinued at any time; see T-Mobile Terms and Conditions at T-Mobile.com for details.

With Netflix Standard with ads you can watch on up to two devices within a household at the same time. You can upgrade to Netflix Premium and watch on up to four devices in the same household at the same time for the discounted rate of $16, through your T-Mobile bill. Visit this page to upgrade now.

Log into My.T-mobile, select Account, and then select Manage add-ons. On the Manage data and add-ons page, add Netflix in the Services section. T-Mobile pays Netflix directly for you. For customers with an existing Netflix account, it may take one or two Netflix billing cycles for your billing to transfer to T-Mobile.

Depending on your subscription plan, the price hike adds up to an extra $24 or $36 you pay each year to the streaming service. Below, CNBC Select shares some ways to save on (and even benefit from) your Netflix subscription.

While you're unlikely to be happy about paying a higher monthly Netflix bill, it does mean you earn a bit more from that 6% cash back. Amex's cash back is earned in the form of Reward Dollars, which cardholders can then use as a statement credit to lower their credit card balance.

And with the U.S. Bank Cash+ Visa Signature Card, cardholders can choose to earn 5% cash back on two bonus categories each quarter, on their first $2,000 in combined eligible net purchases, then 1%. Television, internet and streaming services are counted as a bonus category and U.S. Bank's website lists Netflix as a sample qualifying merchant. Again, you can use this cash back to essentially lower your credit card bill.

T-Mobile has a "Netflix On Us" deal where qualifying cell phone plans get a free Netflix subscription. Those who aren't happy with their current cell phone provider should consider this benefit, which not only makes Netflix complimentary but also consolidates your streaming and cell phone bill.

Netflix allows you to pause your membership and come back to it. This can give you a break from the monthly subscription if you're looking to cut costs or if you're just not watching a particular show at the moment.

You just have to connect the bank account you use to pay your Netflix subscription to Experian Boost, and Experian will add your payments to your Experian credit file. Consumers can link positive payment data as far back as 24 months. Experian Boost also includes access to your FICO Score and Experian free credit monitoring that alerts you to changes on your credit report, such as new account openings in your name and balance updates.

Basic and Premium plan Netflix subscribers will now pay a little more each month for the streaming service. To help save on this cost, get a credit card that rewards streaming purchases, switch your phone plan to T-Mobile or take a pause on your subscription. And, while you're paying more for it, make sure that monthly Netflix bill is helping your credit with Experian Boost.

At CNBC Select, our mission is to provide our readers with high-quality service journalism and comprehensive consumer advice so they can make informed decisions with their money. Every personal finance article is based on rigorous reporting by our team of expert writers and editors with extensive knowledge of personal finance products. While CNBC Select earns a commission from affiliate partners on many offers and links, we create all our content without input from our commercial team or any outside third parties, and we pride ourselves on our journalistic standards and ethics.

Customers are calling it quits amid a slew of changes in the entertainment industry. Gone are the days of companies shelling out untold riches to create content and pay for top-notch talent in the hopes of attracting new customers; now they're under pressure to actually turn a profit. That means less new content, more ads, and higher prices.

The companies are instituting a number of changes to attract (or in many cases, re-attract) viewers, including offering cheaper, ad-supported streaming options and combining with other companies to provide more content for the customer's dollar.

All that said, while consumers might be cutting back on some streamers, they're not cutting them out entirely: In fact, Americans are watching streaming services more than ever. According to Nielsen data, streamers accounted for a record 38.7% of Americans' viewing time in July, with YouTube TV and Netflix leading the pack. (Its lead over broadcast and cable has fallen a little since then.)

Streaming was an attractive proposition to viewers when subscriptions were relatively inexpensive and content libraries were vast. But there are more companies with streaming platforms, and they have been steadily raising prices, making it less affordable for fewer options. One example: When Disney+ was introduced in 2019, it cost $7 per month. Just a few years later, the ad-free version is double that.

While some consumers might not have worried about the cost when the services were cheaper, even news of a price increase can cause them to reevaluate whether or not they are actually using and getting value out of a certain streaming platform.

Many streamers, including Disney, Hulu, and Netflix, offer ad-supported and ad-free streaming packages, with the ad-free option typically costing a few dollars more per month. But it's getting increasingly expensive to avoid them.

Of course, ad-supported streaming is cheaper than its ad-free counterpart. Antenna's data shows that more and more people are opting for the less expensive plans (the companies' public statements back that up). That works out well for the entertainment companies; they make more off of the ads than they do subscriptions.

"The subscription model is not economically viable at current pricing," says Keith Valory, CEO of streaming service Plex, noting that when cable reigned supreme, providers received their portion of the subscription cost plus ad revenue, and churn was negligible. Now they are relying more on subscriptions when churn is high. "It's unsurprising that all these guys are talking about or starting to include ads in their subscriptions."

"The industry knows that price hikes will ultimately drive consumers to reevaluate their subscription choices and perhaps move to some kind of ad tier or bundled deals," says Goman. "Either way, both options are better for the streaming services [and] industry. The ad tiers give the operators more revenue potential while bundles provide sustainability and predictability."

As streamers have proliferated over the years, quality content has become seemingly harder to find. Add to that the cooling of the overall business environment, and there is starting to be a dearth of things to watch, some customers say, making the monthly cost even less palatable.

Some companies, including Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney, are taking shows and movies off their streaming services to avoid paying royalties and licensing fees. Even if a show or movie is advertised as an original for a specific platform, that company still might pay to host it. When Warner Bros. trimmed its content offerings last year, it saved tens of millions of dollars.

But that means viewers could miss out on some of their favorite shows or movies; it can also make consumers distrustful of streamers in general, analysts say. Even if a title moves to a different streaming platform, "app fatigue" is starting to affect customer retention, says Plex's Valory. Who wants to pay for another new service?

"The streaming media experience is too chaotic...[it] needs to be more cohesive," says Valory. "As more streaming services emerge, content has become increasingly more challenging to find." And when content is hard to find, viewers cancel their subscriptions.

In some cases, though, consumers have the exact opposite problem, says Ryan Janus, an Arizona-based certified financial planner who helps families budget. There's no shortage of content, but it's time-consuming to sift through it to find what appeals to each individual user.

"With all the different streaming services, they can't even come to terms with the amount of content available to consume, let alone actually find the time to search through it and consume it all," says Janus. "Rather than continuing to pay for streaming services that they never open, they decide to simplify their life and stick to one or two of their favorite platforms."

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