That free trial. The one you forgot to hit “cancel” on. It’s still charging you. Every single month. CNET’s latest dive into our wallets reveals a uncomfortable truth: the average American is tossing $21 monthly into the digital abyss for services they never open.
That’s not pocket change. Over a year, it hits $252. A whole lot of money for digital ghost town.
The report isn’t just about wasted cash. It tracks how we’re paying for more than ever before. The average US adult spends $111 a month on active subscriptions. That’s $1,332 a year. And yeah. Most of that goes to streaming.
The Hidden Cost of “Click-to-Continue”
It’s getting harder to keep hold of your own money. Last year, the average waste was $17 a month ($204 yearly). Now? It’s $21 ($252 yearly). The needle moves up, not down.
Why? Because canceling a subscription often feels like jumping through hoops while signing up takes a click. An appeals court recently blocked the Federal Trade Commission’s “click-to-cancel” rule. Without a federal mandate for easy exits, companies keep making it a chore. They know you might just give up and keep paying.
You can fix this. But you have to be aggressive about it.
- Check your credit card statements. Not the bank app summary. The actual line items. Look for charges that look like apps you haven’t launched since 2023.
- Use a subscription manager. Apps like Rocket Money or Trim can spot the bleed. Some even cancel for you if you pay a premium fee.
- Hunt through Apple and Google settings. Go to the App Store > Your Name > Subscriptions. Cancel the rot.
- Ignore AI suggestions blindly. Yes, some new tools scan for subscriptions. They also hallucinate data. Double-check every deletion. Don’t cancel the wrong thing because a chatbot guessed wrong.
Millennials Are Paying the Highest Price
Who is paying the most? You might guess the retirees. Wrong.
Millennials are footing the biggest bill at an average of $125 per month. Gen X comes in lowest at $100. But even Gen X is up from the $91 average recorded in 2024 (with millennials then averaging $119). The entire curve is shifting upward.
Prices aren’t staying put. They’re climbing.
Take Netflix. In 2024, the ad-supported standard plan cost $7. Now it’s $9. The premium tier jumped from $23 to $27. That $4 increase isn’t negligible when you have multiple accounts.
It’s not just streaming giants. Everyone is pivoting to subscription models. Tesla? Their full self-driving feature is no longer a lump sum purchase. It’s $99 a month. Meta’s “One Plus” tacks $4+ for better AI tools. The “everything as a subscription” economy is here, and it’s eating your disposable income.
Some people are reacting by buying physical media. Vinyl. CDs. You own it. It doesn’t vanish if you miss a payment. It’s analog armor in a digital world.
Streaming is the #1 Subscription Sinkhole
When you look at what Americans pay for, streaming wins by a mile. Over 60% of adults pay for at least one service like Hulu, Netflix, or Prime Video since April 2025.
It’s “subscription creep.” You stack them up. You keep them. You forget half of them.
Kourtnee Jackson, a senior editor at CNET, suggests a few practical hacks to stop the bleeding without giving up your entertainment.
- Rotate, don’t retain. Keep only what you’re watching this week. When the new season of your show drops, subscribe. Watch it. Cancel before the next month’s cycle starts. Rinse. Repeat.
- Go skinny. If you watch live sports or news, expensive cable alternatives are still expensive. But “skinny bundles” exist. Sling or Philo offer cheaper starting points. YouTube TV has slimmer options. DirecTV allows genre-specific packages. Pay only for the channels you actually watch.
- Embrace free tiers. Spotify and YouTube Music offer decent free versions with ads. Tubi, Roku, and Pluto TV have massive libraries without asking for a credit card. Why pay $15 a month for movies you won’t watch?
“It’s easy to forget to cancel. That’s the business model.”
The methodology backs these numbers up. YouGov surveyed over 2,500 adults. The results are weighted and representative of all US adults 18+. The fieldwork was tight: April 29 to May 1, 2006? No. 2026. This is fresh data.
You’re not bad at math. The system is designed to make you lazy. But checking those settings once a quarter could save you the equivalent of a decent vacation fund.
Or just one. Do it. Before the next statement arrives.
