There have never been so many great TV shows as there are today. And we largely have the rise of streaming services and their endless battle for top-tier content to thank for it. Yet, when I think about streaming these days, gratitude isn't exactly what I feel. Instead, it’s disappointment. Frustration. Anger. Here is how my streaming fatigue completely turned my viewing habits upside down—and how what felt like a step backward actually brought back the joy of watching.
How the Streaming Dream Fell Apart
Streaming movies and shows used to be a grand promise: all the content you could ever want, ad-free, for under 10 euros a month. Looking back (and even looking at it today), that was an unbelievable deal! Best of all: the promise was actually kept! When Netflix launched in Germany back in 2014, you had access to pretty much everything your heart desired. Throw in a VPN and the US library, and you had even more. All of that for a mere €7.99! Okay, realistically €8.99 for HD streams, which also let you share the account with your family.
Unfortunately, companies like Disney and Paramount quickly realized just how enticing the Netflix pitch was. For understandable reasons, they weren't about to let the little guy—who, lest we forget, started out mailing DVDs—monopolize this brand-new market all by itself. Especially not with their licensed content! And so, piece by piece, titles began disappearing from the Netflix library as competitors rolled out their own streaming platforms.
The Content Arms Race
Pulling licensed content from the market leader wasn't enough, though. To get people to subscribe to Disney+ and the rest, platforms had to serve up compelling original content. What started as a battle for viewers quickly turned into a full-blown arms race. For us TV fans, it initially felt like a golden age—after all, amazing new shows were dropping pretty much every single week.
The problem? Standout hits like Stranger Things (Netflix), The Mandalorian (Disney+), Severance (Apple TV+), Star Trek: Picard (Paramount+), The Boys (Prime Video), or IT: Welcome to Derry (HBO Max) are now scattered across half a dozen different services. And because platforms also had to churn out thousands of other shows and movies just to fill out their catalogs, production costs skyrocketed. For the providers, yes—but ultimately, for us as viewers, too.
The €90-a-Month Monster
I mentioned that back in 2014, you could get practically everything on Netflix for €8.99. Today, that exact same ad-free, HD access to the Netflix library will cost you €15.99! And if you actually want to justify that 4K TV sitting in your living room, you’ll have to fork out €21.99. This steady increase, with almost annual price hikes, wasn't just limited to Netflix: Disney+ started at a paltry €6.99; today it's €10.99 for standard, and €15.99 if you want 4K.
Sure, you don't have to subscribe to every single service. After all, every platform has more content than anyone could ever watch. But the true highlights—the must-see shows everyone is talking about—are spread across all of them. That original promise of getting pretty much everything worth watching for a low monthly fee was broken a long time ago. If you want to keep up with all the big hits today, you need deep pockets. Subscribing to Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, Apple TV+, Prime Video, and Paramount+ adds up to €70.93 every single month. In 4K resolution, that jumps to €89.93 (as of September 2026)! I honestly have no idea who can afford that. But don't worry, the streaming giants have an old—err, new solution for that...
Ads: The Fake Savior
If you don't mind sitting through ads before and during every show, you can save a chunk of cash. With ads turned on, monthly prices per service drop to around €5.99 or €6.99—which is actually less than Netflix cost back in 2014! It definitely makes you think twice about whether paying €21.99 for ad-free 4K Netflix is really worth it, or if the €6.99 tier isn't the smarter move.
I totally get the appeal, especially considering traditional TV bombards us with ads constantly. But as tempting as it might look at first glance: it drives me absolutely crazy. During my last test run, Prime Video was practically unwatchable. You've already wasted way too much time agreeing on a movie, and then you have to sit through almost four minutes of ads before it even starts? Only to be bombarded with the exact same commercial breaks every 15 minutes? Yeah, ad-free streaming has officially become a luxury.
I might be in the minority here, but my time and sanity are worth more to me than saving a few bucks on a subscription. And there's another reason: we're currently introducing the youngest member of our family to the wonderful world of movies. But I really can't stomach the idea of the next generation accepting as normal that a story gets constantly interrupted by ads. Especially when toddlers can't even tell the difference between the storyline and a commercial.
How Going Backwards Saved Movie Night
I love TV shows, and I love movies even more. But as a working parent with a dog, my free time is pretty limited. I simply don't have the bandwidth to binge every trending hype show as soon as it drops. And frankly, I'm exhausted from spending 20 minutes scrolling through menus every night—only to end up putting on something nobody is actually excited to watch.
So, for ourselves (when the kid is asleep), we rediscovered traditional TV. When you turn on the tube, something is immediately playing. The burden of choice is taken off your shoulders. Even fixed weekly broadcast schedules suddenly have a certain charm again. If there's nothing but garbage on TV (which happens often enough), we check out public media libraries, where we've discovered hidden gems like the German series Chabos. And if none of that hits the spot, we pop a DVD or Blu-ray into the player—especially when we're watching something with our daughter. Whether from our own shelf or borrowed from a friend’s massive collection.
With this strategy, we went a full three months in 2026 completely streaming-free. Aside from renting or buying the occasional digital movie, that is. It’s not that we’re completely shutting out the streaming world—like so many people out there, we just hop from one service to another. Even if that means missing out on trending online discussions, I'm perfectly fine experiencing a masterpiece like Shōgun months after the buzz dies down. After all, it gave me time to read the fantastic book first.
How Do You Stream?
I'd love to know how you handle streaming these days. I’ve put together a short survey and would really appreciate it if you took a few moments to answer a couple of quick questions. As a little thank-you, everyone who participates by October 19, 2026, will be entered into a raffle to win a €50 Elbenwald voucher.
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