TV Is Costing You Way More Than Your Cable Bill

The Super Bowl is this Sunday. It's the most-watched television event of the year with more than 100 million Americans tuning in. Some will be watching for the actual game and others for the halftime performance. However, the majority will be tuned in for the commercials. It's no secret that advertisers spend millions just to get a 30-second ad seen by those millions of people. This year, ads are costing an average of $5 million. $5 MILLION! That's almost $200,000 per second. Compare that to what advertisers spend on a 30-second ad during a regular football Sunday game—almost $700,000.

Check out these other numbers. The average American watches four hours of TV a day. That's more than 1,400 hours of television watching in a year. With the popularity of streaming services on the rise, binge-watching has become a growing phenomenon. 73% of Americans binge-watch and the average young American binge-watches for five hours straight. This happens on a weekly basis. 

According to Leichtman Research Group, cable TV subscribers spend about $85 a month, while the average among satellite TV providers tops $100 a month. That's more than $1,000 a year spent on TV. Imagine how much faster you could pay off your debt with that money. Many have realized this and have opted for streaming services over cable. 

Now let's look at this a little differently. Imagine if that time were spent on budgeting, picking up a part-time job or selling some of your stuff. You could double the amount you save from cutting your cable alone. I know a Breaking Bad marathon probably sounds more appealing than all of this, but you have to take time to work on your finances. They didn't get out of control overnight, so it stands to reason that they won't be fixed in that time either.

As a financial coach, one of the number one excuses that I hear that keeps more people broke than any other is, "I don't have time to work on my finances!" We wrote a blog post on it, and I regularly send it to my clients who use the, "I don't have time" excuse to justify their laziness when it comes to their financial life. If you're using this excuse, you need to check it out for yourself. 

Cut back your TV watching and focus more on your finances. You'll start to see improvement and won't even miss the television you cut back on because you'll be too busy marveling at the balance in your bank account! If you want different, do different!