The Platinum Card® from American Express is a top-tier premium travel rewards card with a $695 annual fee (see rates and fees).
At first glance, that figure looks colossal for a single card. However, the plethora of lifestyle-oriented benefits helps cardholders justify keeping the Amex Platinum in their wallets.
One such feature is a monthly statement credit toward eligible digital entertainment subscriptions — which the issuer is slightly adjusting this year.
What is the Amex Platinum digital entertainment credit?
The Amex Platinum offers up to $240 in “digital entertainment” statement credits annually, spread out in monthly $20 increments. Enrollment is required. You can use these credits for the following subscriptions:
- Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ — or the Disney Bundle (which includes all three services)
- Peacock
- Sirius XM
- The New York Times
- The Wall Street Journal
As of October 2, 2023, American Express will remove Audible from its list of eligible services for the entertainment credit. Any monthly billing of Audible on your Amex Platinum after October 2 will no longer be credited. So if you do not want to continue an Audible subscription due to its removal, then make sure you cancel your subscription before October 2.
How to use the Amex Platinum digital entertainment credit
First, note that you must enroll your card before making a qualifying purchase. You won’t receive any statement credits if you fail to do this.
Head to your Amex Platinum home page and click the “Benefits” tab at the top of the screen.
You’ll now see a large number of tiles outlining each of your card benefits in full. Scroll until you see “$240 Digital Entertainment Credit.” You can click either the “Get Started” or “Learn More” button.
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Scroll past the details and tips until you see a picture of your card. Indicate that you understand the terms and conditions of the card benefit, and click “Enroll Now.”
That’s it! You’re ready to start saving.
Let’s now look at the opportunities of each digital entertainment subscription. Remember that you must enroll directly with the provider for your Amex credit to trigger. You can’t sign-up via a mobile app or third party.
Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+
Touted as “The Disney Bundle,” you can get all of your movie, TV shows and sports-watching needs covered with Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN. You can also unbundle these offerings, and the digital entertainment credit will also reimburse for each monthly service individually.
There are varying levels of services with each plan, but here are some of the current monthly prices we’ve found:
- The Disney Bundle (Disney+, ESPN+, Hulu with ads): $13.99 per month
- The Disney Bundle (Disney+, ESPN+, Hulu with no ads): $19.99 per month
- Hulu with ads: $7.99 per month
- Hulu without ads: $14.99 per month
- Hulu with ads, plus Live TV, Disney+ and ESPN+: $69.99 per month
- Hulu without ads, plus Live TV, Disney+ and ESPN+: $75.99 per month
- Disney+: $7.99 per month
- ESPN+: $9.99 per month
As you can see, you can tailor the right plan that fits for your needs. No matter which plan you choose, you must purchase the monthly subscriptions directly through the provider’s websites — after enrolling for the benefit with Amex.
Pro tip: The Disney Bundle may offer the best value for your money. That will maximize your $20 monthly digital entertainment credit, so this is a great plan to pick that covers all of your bases.
Peacock
Peacock offers two paid products:
- Premium: $4.99 per month
- Premium Plus: $9.99 per month
You will not be reimbursed for subscriptions bundled with cable services or other bundles. You also can’t use it toward gift cards of any sort.
Pro tip: I have Peacock Premium, and while I tend to get good use from it, the free version may suit you just as well. The big difference is that you get double the available content and live sports. If your investigation reveals that the shows you’re interested in are available on the free version, the Amex Platinum credit won’t do you much good here. Springing for the ad-free Premium Plus subscription would be the real decision-maker, as you can also download content for offline viewing.
Related: Best credit cards for streaming service subscriptions
SiriusXM
Sirius XM offers six plans, ranging on if you need “car and streaming” bundled or just are searching for a streaming package. Again, ignoring introductory offers, here are the current prices:
- Car + Streaming:
- Platinum: $22.99 per month
- Music + Entertainment: $17.99 per month
- Music: $12.99/month
- Streaming only:
- Platinum: $10.99 per month
- Music + Entertainment: $7.99 per month
- Music: $4.99 per month
The Amex Platinum credit is valid toward purchases made directly with SiriusXM (U.S.) online at www.siriusxm.com, through SiriusXM telephone sales or direct mail order purchase transactions. The only stipulated exceptions are SiriusXM safety, security or Telematics services (Connected Vehicle), SiriusXM for Business subscriptions, SiriusXM ad sales and Pandora.
Pro tip: If you’ve never subscribed to SiriusXM, they’re desperate to keep customers. My wife has had wild success calling (or online chatting) to cancel and eventually receiving an additional six months of membership for under $10. If you’re not averse to chatting with customer service reps, you can likely maintain a SiriusXM subscription so cheap that you won’t get much use from the Amex Platinum credit.
The New York Times
Ignoring limited-time or introductory offers, here’s what you can expect to pay for a subscription with The New York Times:
- Digital subscription: $4.25 per week
- Paper copy: Starting at $10 per week (Sunday edition)
- NYT Cooking: $1.25 per week
- New York Times Games: $1.25 per week
You’ll need to visit nytimes.com to trigger the Amex Platinum credit. Unfortunately, you cannot use your credit for ad services, NYT conferences, gift cards, the TimesDigest or any purchases from the NYTimes company store.
Pro tip: Many of these subscriptions are discounted when purchasing an annual subscription instead of paying monthly. For example, NYT Cooking costs $60 per year when you pay each month but only $40 in value if you pay a lump sum. That sharply diminishes the value of this digital entertainment credit.
The Wall Street Journal
Here’s what you can expect to pay for a subscription to The Wall Street Journal:
- WSJ Digital Bundle (WSJ, Barron’s, MarketWatch): $12.50 a week
- WSJ Digital: $9.75 a week
- Weekend Print + WSJ Digital: $10.25 a week
- Monday to Friday Print + WSJ Digital: $12.00 a week
- Monday to Friday & Weekend Print + WSJ Digital: $13.75 a week
Pro tip: The Wall Street Journal regularly posts specially priced offers for its services (digital and print), so an ideal time to sign up would be during those promotional periods to stack the Amex Platinum Digital Credit with other subscriptions and maximize the $20 monthly credit.
FAQs on Amex Platinum digital entertainment credit
Is the Amex Platinum digital entertainment credit a good deal?
It can be. The issue is that many of us purchase our memberships annually because there is often a steep discount. The Amex Platinum statement credit works against a strategy like this. To get the biggest value from this benefit, you’ll need to pay for your subscriptions monthly, which can raise the effective price of your annual subscriptions.
For example, paying a lump sum for an annual subscription to various New York Times assets can save you 33% over monthly payments. Doing the same for an Audible Premium Plus account will save you 16% over monthly payments. In other words, you shouldn’t necessarily value the digital entertainment credit at $240 per year.
Which digital entertainment companies participate?
The providers that trigger the Amex Platinum statement credit reimbursement are Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+, Peacock, Sirius XM, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. We hope that Amex will add even more popular services like Netflix and Spotify in the future.
What is the best use of the Amex Platinum digital entertainment credit?
This credit is limited enough that we aren’t seeing any non-obvious methods for redeeming. If you have any of these subscriptions already, this credit is a good deal for you. If not, the credit may be enough to spur you from trying a new thing — but do not calculate this credit into your annual savings unless it’s money you would have spent anyway.
When will I receive my Amex Platinum digital entertainment credit?
After you charge the monthly recurring service to your Amex Platinum, you should receive your reimbursement within six to eight weeks. However, for many TPG staffers, the credit usually takes under a few business days to arrive on their statement.
Bottom line
American Express offers a $240 digital entertainment statement credit onto the Amex Platinum’s suite of benefits, among other credits for Equinox, Walmart+ and Saks. Just remember to enroll your card first before paying for any participating services. Otherwise, the credits won’t be applied.
Official application link: The Platinum Card® from American Express
Check the CardMatch tool to see if you’re targeted for a 100,000 or 125,000-point Platinum card offer (after meeting minimum spending requirements). These offers are subject to change at any time.
For rates and fees of the Platinum Card® from American Express, click here.
Additional reporting by Danyal Ahmed & Stella Shon.
