senior discounts grocery stores restaurants hotels even wireless companies offer them so
why don't the major streaming services someone left a comment on a recent video of mine that
touched on this very topic so let's take a look it says glad to see military discounts are out there
and student ones as well but the people that could use the help the most are still ignored there is
no senior discount for those on fixed incomes there are two reasons why i think streaming
services do not offer senior discounts and one reason why they should seriously consider it first
there is so much competition for your streaming dollar that promotions are available to everyone
not just seniors this may be the most important reason why streaming services don't offer senior
discounts take hulu for example the ad supported plan is normally 6.99 a month
but it sometimes goes on sale at a deep discount most recently a dollar a month for three months
that is an 85 savings available to new and eligible returning subscribers regardless of age
so from hulu's perspective they may be thinking that it is better to offer these promotions
to everyone every once in a while rather than offering a senior specific discount
on a permanent basis and hulu's discount is pretty extreme but other services like discovery plus
paramount plus hbo max and peacock have all offered 40 to 50 percent off limited time deals
in the past i should mention that amazon prime which includes prime video does offer half off
to some seniors but you must receive government assistance link in the description the second
factor i want to talk about today is advertising and during my 10 plus years as a tv producer
much of my audience was 55 plus but the management was always obsessed with reaching the younger key
demographics advertisers target people in various age groups but generally 18 to 49 and 25 to 54
are the most desirable since that is who the advertisers want to reach subscribers under 55
are especially valuable to streaming services particularly those with ad supported plans my
understanding over the years is that research and focus groups have shown that people 55 plus
are more set in their ways so this is a brand of paper towels that is sold on amazon
and as someone who is under 55 advertisers may think that i'm more likely to try out this brand
while older people may be loyal to other brands like bounty or brawny and that point loyalty
brings me to the reason why streaming services may want to experiment with senior discounts
all of the major streaming services have the same problem churn people sign up for services for a
month or two then cancel to try out other services it's not unethical or legal in fact i recommend it
but if streaming services know that seniors are less likely to stop and start their subscriptions
offering some type of discount to encourage loyalty would be very smart and on top of
that streaming services have learned that the ad supported plans are a win-win let's use hulu as
an example again the plan with commercials costs 6.99 a month when it's not deeply discounted but
the plan without ads is 12.99 a month it's been reported that the plan with commercials
is more profitable for hulu because of the ad revenue so as a consumer it costs
you less but it earns the company more so for streaming services desperate to add subscribers
ads are the solution but some people simply will not watch ads i would argue seniors are
less likely to be in that category after all ad supported was the only option before streaming
with antenna tv and cable too and think about this if seniors watch more tv than younger people on
average they would be exposed to more commercials on those ad supported streaming services the
question is how could streaming services implement a discount for seniors that still works for them
here's my recommendation offer a price break to seniors on an annual plan with ads that way
seniors are getting a lower price on an ad supported plan that is typically more profitable
for streamers and since it is an annual plan paid up front a year of loyalty is locked in
in the meantime my best advice for seniors is to look for the deals that are available
to everyone and black friday is a great time to find deals on streaming services and don't forget
about an antenna plus all the free streaming services like pluto tv the roku channel and
tubi i talked more about them in my step-by-step guide to cutting the cord thanks for watching