One day during the December holidays, we were stuck in the house due to incessant rain. We were looking for a movie to watch, however, we had already watched most if not all the top new movies on the available streaming services (Netflix, Prime, Showmax and DStv Stream).

Someone suggested we watch ‘Titanic’, and pretty much everyone agreed. I guess it’s because the movie is so long, you can only rewatch it so many times.

Anyways, we started searching for Titanic but couldn’t find it on Prime, Netflix or DStv (& Showmax). After searching on other streaming platforms, I found that Titanic was available on Disney+. I was hoping there would be a free trial, but there wasn’t that option. And with a bunch of people pressuring me, I subscribed to Disney.

We watched and enjoyed the movie, even though the kids slept early into the movie. The following morning, I scanned Disney to see if they had any movies that I could watch. Of the movies and series on the landing page, Marvel content had the most prominence. I no longer enjoy super hero stuff that much, so I cancelled the subscription that morning. I knew i could use the app for thee remaining days and change my mind if I do find something interesting.

It’s now January, a month has passed and my subscription has ended. In the past month, I watched some really good content on Disney+ including the following:

• Black Panther – Wakanda Forever
• Nightmare Alley (my favorite on this list)
• Death on the Nile
• A Haunting in Venice
• The Transporter
• Home Alone

As an example, I never watched Wakanda Forever because it’s exclusive to Disney, and I never subscribed before. Other than the items on this list, I only watched ‘Griselda’ on Netflix and some local soapies (thanks to my wife).

While debating whether to renew my Disney+ subscription, I got an idea. Why not subscribe to one or two streaming services at a time. Being a 9-to-5 guy, I only have so much time to watch TV. Also, the drop rate of new content on these platforms is low. My wife prefers local soapies and my kids are on Youtube, so its definitely not worth paying a R150 subscription for a service you only use once in a while.

So, going foward, I’ll switch streaming services every 2 or 4 months. Thats enough time to let new content build up on one platform while consuming content on the other platform. Since Showmax is bundled with my DStv subscription, I’ll keep it. Netflix stays for now, I am currently watching ‘The Brothers Sun’, ‘Yellow Jackets’ (also available on Showmax though), ‘Berlin’ and ‘Afterlife’.

Next, I’ll most likey subscribe to Apple TV, I am sure they have a buch of exclusive there that I haven’t watched yet.

I read somewhere that when users switch a lot between services its called ‘savvy switching‘. I don’t know if I like this term, but I’m sure someone will come up with a better phrase as this becomes a popular trend.