Streaming got more expensive in 2026. Seven big services raised prices between January and September, three of them in the second half of September alone.
| Service | Date | Monthly price |
|---|---|---|
| Hulu | Sep 23 | With ads $11.99 to $12.49; no ads $18.99 to $21.49 |
| Disney+ | Sep 23 | With ads $11.99 to $12.49; no ads $18.99 to $21.49 |
| ESPN Select | Sep 17 | $12.99 to $13.99 |
| ESPN Unlimited | Sep 17 | $29.99 to $31.99 |
| Apple TV | Aug 28 | $12.99 to $14.99 |
| Peacock | Aug 18 | Premium $10.99 to $12.99 |
| Prime Video | Apr 10 | Ad-free add-on $2.99 to $4.99 |
| Paramount+ | Jan 15 | Premium $12.99 to $13.99 |
As announced by each service and reported at the time.
So when a subscriber asks an AI assistant what a service costs, does it know? mapou checked every price ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Grok quoted in September, in full subscriber conversations and in single answers.
Mostly, yes. In 44 subscriber conversations, Hulu's ad-free price came up 11 times, and 10 of those quotes were the new $21.49. In single answers, the new Disney+ and Hulu ad-free price outnumbered the old one 46 to 6.
The numbers
| Service | Prices | Quoted the new price | Quoted the old price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Disney+ and Hulu without ads | $21.49 new, $18.99 old | 46 | 6 |
| ESPN Unlimited | $31.99 new, $29.99 old | 23 | 6 |
| Prime Video ad-free | $4.99 new, $2.99 old | 14 | 0 |
Quotes of either the new or the old price, for increases where the two prices are distinct numbers, within 70 characters after the service is named.
Across all 543 prices the assistants quoted, 65% were within $2 or 10% of the current price. ChatGPT was the most accurate.
| Assistant | Prices quoted | Accurate |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | 88 | 72% |
| Grok | 157 | 69% |
| Gemini | 133 | 61% |
| Claude | 165 | 61% |
543 prices in 120 answers to 30 pricing questions, September 2026.
Peacock is the one AI missed. Peacock's Premium plan went from $10.99 to $12.99 on August 18. Six weeks later, the typical AI quote was still $10.99.
We got it wrong first
When mapou first scored this study, our own answer key still had the old prices for seven of these services. It marked many of the assistants' new-price quotes as wrong, and the first published version of the streaming report said 57% of prices were accurate. We corrected the key on October 4, re-scored every quote, and the number is 65%. The streaming report carries a dated correction.
The lesson applies to anyone tracking prices: the assistants search the web every time, and they can pick up an increase within days.
What it means
mapou's read: AI picks up price changes quickly when the change is announced loudly and covered widely, like the Disney and ESPN increases. A quieter change, like Peacock's, can sit unnoticed for weeks while AI keeps quoting the old, lower number. That makes your service look cheaper than it is, and the gap shows up at checkout.
What this doesn't show
This is one month of answers, and it measures what AI says, not what subscribers then paid. Quotes in conversations are only counted when mapou can tell which service a price belongs to.
How we measured this
- Single answers
- Price accuracy: 30 pricing questions asked once each of ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Grok in September 2026, 120 answers. Every dollar amount was matched to the closest current plan of the service it was quoted for. The new-versus-old count uses all 101 streaming questions, 404 answers.
- Conversations
- 44 simulated subscriber conversations from the September streaming and live TV studies (5 and 6 personas, each run once per engine), 92 assistant answers.
- New versus old
- For increases where the old and new prices are distinct numbers (Disney+ and Hulu ad-free, ESPN Unlimited, Prime Video ad-free), mapou counted quotes of either price within 70 characters after the service was named.
- Current prices
- Each service's official price page, or the announced new price for increases in 2026 (see the correction below).
- Correction
- mapou's own answer key was out of date for seven of these services when the study was first scored. It was corrected on October 4, 2026, and every quote was re-scored. The streaming report carries the same note.
- Limits
- One month of answers. Conversations mention several services at once, so mapou only scores conversation quotes it can attribute cleanly.
Cite this article
mapou, “Seven streaming services raised prices this year. AI mostly quoted the new ones, faster than our own answer key.,” mapou.ai, October 4, 2026. https://mapou.ai/articles/ai-streaming-prices-wrong
Reporters can reach mapou through for more on the method, other breakdowns or a comment.
Is AI quoting your current price?
mapou checks the prices each AI assistant quotes for your plans every month, in single answers and full subscriber conversations, and flags when an increase hasn't reached the answers yet.
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