Watching Netflix’s top shows has sextupled in price since 2018

A lot can change in five years, and one of those things is the cost of streaming your favorite shows.

In 2018, Netflix users could log on and binge The Office, Friends, New Girl, Gilmore Girls, and Fraiser without needing to change services. Plus, Netflix was pumping out popular original content like Orange is the New Black, BoJack Horseman, and the polarizing 13 Reasons Why.

The Office, New Girl, and Friends

That year, all of this could be streamed in hi-def, without ads, for a monthly subscription fee of $10.99.

Now, in 2023, Netflix has lost many of its biggest titles. If you want to watch all of these programs, you’ll need to subscribe to multiple streaming platforms — and it’ll cost significantly more than $10.99.

Where did all the shows go?

To determine where all the popular shows have gone, I looked at Vox’s archived list of the most-viewed Netflix shows in 2018, which is based on the number of streaming minutes.

Then, I determined which services a customer would need to purchase to stream the shows, and tallied the price of monthly memberships in 2023. All subscription prices will look at standard plans (or the service’s most equivalent to Netflix’s standard). I also chose not to include cheaper, ad-supported options because Netflix didn’t have an ad-supported tier in 2018.

Netflix’s top shows of 2018 (based on data from January-November, chart from Vox using Jumpshot data)

Here’s where you can find the shows in 2023 (and their popularity rankings in 2018).

Netflix ($15.49/ month)

• Grey’s Anatomy (№4)
• Supernatural (№6)
• Arrested Development (№10)
• Shameless (№11)
• Gilmore Girls (№12)
• Orange is the New Black (№14)
• BoJack Horeseman (№15)
• Black Mirror (№16)
• 13 Reasons Why (№18)
• Big Mouth (№19)
• The Flash (№20)

Peacock ($11.99/ month)