Streaming Fatigue – How Subscription Overload Is Changing the Way We Watch TV

29 October 2025

Paul Francis

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Streaming was meant to simplify everything. A single subscription, unlimited entertainment, and the freedom to watch on your own terms. For a while, it worked. Netflix and Spotify redefined convenience, offering easy access to vast catalogues that made piracy look outdated.

Computer screen displaying a large red "N" on black, with a dark room and red backlighting creating a dramatic ambiance.

But after more than a decade of growth, the streaming model is beginning to show cracks. Prices are rising, catalogues are shrinking, and what was once the answer to complexity has become complex again. Across the UK, many households are asking the same question: how many streaming subscriptions is too many?

When Streaming Made Life Simple

In the early 2010s, the rise of Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Spotify changed entertainment forever. The offer was irresistible: affordable, legal access to huge libraries with no adverts and no waiting. Music piracy collapsed, DVD sales fell, and the binge-watch became a cultural event.

For a time, streaming services offered the best of both worlds. They were cheaper than traditional TV packages, and they worked across every device. Viewers could choose what they wanted, when they wanted it, without clutter or confusion.

Then the competition arrived.

The Subscription Pile-Up

As studios and broadcasters realised the potential profits of streaming, they began launching their own platforms. Disney+, Apple TV+, Paramount+, Discovery+, NOW TV, and dozens of smaller options each carved out their own libraries.

The result was fragmentation. A viewer who once paid £5.99 for Netflix now faces a collection of separate subscriptions, each holding exclusive content. Popular series such as The Mandalorian, Stranger Things and Ted Lasso sit behind different walls. To access them all, a single household may need four or five subscriptions, each costing upwards of £10 per month.

According to a 2025 report by MIDiA Research, the average UK household now pays for between three and five streaming services. In a period of rising living costs, this model is starting to feel unsustainable.

Rising Costs and Shrinking Catalogues

Over the last three years, most major platforms have increased their subscription prices by between 10 and 25 per cent. At the same time, many have removed older shows or films to reduce licensing costs. For users, that means paying more for less.

Disney+ and Netflix have both introduced ad-supported tiers, effectively reintroducing the adverts that streaming once promised to eliminate. It is a shift that many subscribers see as a step backwards.

While these changes help companies maintain profit margins, they are eroding the sense of value that once defined streaming.

From Convenience to Fatigue

The modern viewer now faces a paradox of choice. There are more programmes, films and platforms than ever before, yet the experience feels overwhelming. The constant launch of new services and limited-time exclusives makes it hard to keep track of what is available where.

This fatigue has started to change behaviour. Surveys show an increase in “rotation subscribers” — users who cancel and restart services depending on what they want to watch that month. Others are turning to free alternatives such as ITVX, BBC iPlayer or Pluto TV, or rediscovering physical media to ensure access to their favourite titles.

Even piracy, once in sharp decline, is quietly returning as some users decide that paying for everything is no longer realistic.

The Industry Response

Streaming companies are beginning to adapt. Disney and Hulu have merged in the US to reduce fragmentation, while Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount are exploring similar bundles. In the UK, Sky has integrated several platforms into its interface to make navigation simpler.

Password sharing restrictions are tightening, but some companies are also testing flexible plans and short-term passes to cater to more selective viewers.

The industry is beginning to realise that customer loyalty depends on transparency, value and ease of use.

What Comes Next

The future of streaming will depend on balance. Too many subscriptions will drive fatigue; too few options will limit diversity. Experts predict a wave of consolidation over the next five years, with several smaller services either merging or being absorbed by larger players.

In the end, the success of streaming may depend not on how much content can be offered, but how simply it can be delivered.

For viewers, the goal remains the same as it was at the start: watch what you want, when you want, without confusion or cost fatigue. The challenge now is getting back to that simplicity.

Current Most Read

How trademarks become generic...

Paul Francis
Sep 26, 2024
5 min read

A generic trademark (sometimes called a genericised trademark or proprietary eponym) is a brand name that becomes so synonymous with a particular item that it effectively ‘becomes’ that item.

AI generated image of Logos in a Pile — Image by Leonardo AI

The best examples of generic trademarking (in the UK) are Hoover and Sellotape. Hoover, in particular, is the most generic term for a vacuum cleaner in the United Kingdom. So much so that, when I worked for a high street electronics retailer, customers would come in and ask for a ‘Dyson Hoover’ or ‘LG Hoover’.

This can be both a blessing and a curse. It's nice to think that your brand or product is so synonymous with a particular item that people don't refer to it any other way; however, it can mean losing legal trademarking and protection over that name.

‘Sellotape’, owned by a company in Winsford, Cheshire, is a generic term for adhesive tape. ‘Trampoline’ is originally a trademark of the Griswold-Nissen Trampoline and Tumbling Company. Both companies have lost any legal protection against their brand names being used as generic terms for the items they’re associated with.

Many companies today will seek any means necessary to stop their trademarks and products becoming generic. The biggest of these is Google.

Google have actively discouraged various publications from referring to web searches as ‘googling’, to avoid their brand becoming a generic trademark. In fact, both the UK’s Oxford English Dictionary and the US’s Websters Dictionary define google (all lower case) as a verb with the meaning ‘to use the Google search engine to obtain information on the Internet.’

Some companies have fallen foul of their own hubris on certain products. The Otis Elevator Company lost both trademarks for ‘elevator’ and ‘escalator’ because they excessively used the terms in their own advertising campaigns. This saw the public use the term whenever they referred to a ‘vertical cable transport machine’ or ‘motor driven staircase’. When Westing House Electric Corporation made their own escalators, the courts and trademark office concluded that, as Otis had used its own trademarks in a generic way, the terms would be subject to genericisation, which allowed Westing House and anyone so inclined to use the names freely.

Generic terms can be country- and even age-based. My daughter, who’s thirteen, turned to me recently and asked for a ‘band-aid’ to cover a blister. I would have asked for a ‘plaster’, a word derived from the company name Elastoplast, which is the biggest seller of adhesive bandages in the UK. My daughter, however, watches a lot of US television and (with my approval) some American YouTube channels; these use the term ‘band-aid’ to describe adhesive bandages.

Below are more generic trademarks, some of which may surprise you:

Aspirin

Still trademarked in several countries, but it’s now a generic term for basic pain relief tablets.

Airfix

Used in the UK to describe plastic scale model kits that are put together by hand.

Astroturf

Artificial grass, trademarked by Monsanto Company.

Biro

Used commonly in the UK to describe a ballpoint pen. Owned by Societe Bic.

Bubble wrap

Common term for inflated/cushioned packaging-type material. Trademark owned by the Sealed Air company.

Cashpoint

A common way to describe cash machines; this trademark is owned by Lloyds Bank.

ChapStick

Lip balm brand owned by Pfizer.

Comic Con

A shortened term used for comic book conventions, this is actually a trademark owned by San Diego Comic-con international.

Dictaphone

Used to describe a dictation machine trademarked by Nuance Communications.

Ditto

This was initially used to describe the Spirit Duplicator, which was manufactured by the Ditto Corporation of Illinois. It was initially a term for ‘copying’.

Filofax

Term used to describe a personal organiser, the trademark was originally owned by the Letts Filofax Group.

Frisbee

A flying disc toy initially created by Wham-O.

Hoover

Widely used as a noun and verb for a vacuum cleaner.

Hula Hoop

Another trademark by Wham-O.

Jacuzzi

Referring to a hot tub or whirlpool bath created by the Jacuzzi company.

JCB

Commonly used in the UK to refer to an excavator with both a front loader and backhoe. Owned by J. C. Bamford.

Lava lamp

Refers to a liquid motion lamp made by Mathmos.

Mace

Term used for pepper spray.

Memory stick

Owned by the Sony corporation, it’s typically used to refer to all USB flash drives.

Nintendo

Used mainly in the 1980s and early 90s to refer to a Video Games Console. ‘He’s been playing Nintendo,’ was a common phrase.

Onesies

Used to describe an adult bodysuit and was initially trademarked by the Gerber Products company.

Photoshop

Photoshop is a software program owned by Adobe, though it’s often used a term for any software that edits photos.

Ping Pong

Trademarked by Jaques and Son and later passed to Parker Bros, who still try to enforce the trademark in the US.

Plasticine

Modelling clay that has a putty-like substance to it. Often used for clay animation.

Powerpoint

Slide show presentation software owned by the Microsoft corporation. Used commonly to refer to all presentations.

Pritt Stick

Owned by Henkel, it’s common in the UK to be as a generic term for any glue stick.

Rollerblade

A specific type of inline skate made by Nordica.

Scalextric

Generic term, mainly in the UK, to describe slot car races. Owned by the Hornby Railway company.

Stanley Knife

A utility knife popularised by Stanley Works in the UK.

Styrofoam

The common term for polystyrene foam. Incorrectly used in the US for disposable cups plates and coolers, which are actually made from a different type of polystyrene.

Super Glue

A name for the Cyanoacrylate adhesive made by the Super Glue Corporation, the term is interchangeable for all brands of glue.

Tannoy

Commonly used in the UK for any Public Address (or PA) system. Tannoy was a British manufacturer of loudspeakers and PA systems.

Tarmac

Used to describe asphalt road surfaces. Surprisingly, the trademark is owned by the Tarmac company.

Thermos

A vacuum-insulated flask initially trademarked by Thermos GmbH.

Tipp-Ex

Common in the UK to refer to any brand of white correction fluid. Owned by Tipp-Ex GmbH & Co.

Tupperware

Trademarked by Earl Tupper after they made plastic storage containers popular in the 1940s.

Uber

A relatively new term for any online taxi service.

Vaseline

Often used by consumers as a generic term for petroleum jelly. Owned by Unilever.

Velcro

Still trademarked by Velcro Companies, this has become a verb for a hook-and-loop fastening.

Walkman

Sony Corporation lost the use of this trademark in Austria in 2002, as it was deemed to have passed into common use. Used to describe a personal stereo player (usually, the cassette variant).

Zeppelin

This is a common term used to describe a rigid airship that was initially developed by German company Luftschiffbau Zeppelin. The company is still in operation today with over 7000 employees.

Zimmer Frame

Many walking frames are referred to as Zimmer Frames, the trademark for which is owned by Zimmer Holdings.