AMEX’s terms mention that starting May 8, SiriusXM will no longer be eligible for reimbursement. If you’re currently using this credit, remember to cancel.

[Update 2023.8] AMEX added The Wall Street Journal as an eligible merchant for the digital entertainment credit, which is pretty useful. However, WSJ is inexpensive and won’t use up the full $20 monthly credit cap, so you can pair it with something else. In addition, Audible will be removed from the credit starting October 1.

About the entertainment credit

AMEX recently refreshed the benefits and annual fees on the Platinum card family, and one of the new perks was a $240 entertainment credit. Here’s a quick overview of how this credit works and whether there are any ways to come out ahead with stacking or cash-back opportunities.

  • $20 back each month, currently only valid on Disney+, ESPN+, Hulu, The New York Times, Peacock, SiriusXM, and The Wall Street Journal.
  • Audible reimbursement ended on October 1, 2023

One thing to note is that this credit is capped at $20 per calendar month, rather than being issued all at once. If you have multiple eligible services, you can combine them until you reach the full $20 reimbursement.

The currently eligible Platinum cards are:

For existing Platinum cardholders, this benefit is automatically available, but be sure to enroll on the benefits page before using it.

Wall Street Journal

WSJ often runs heavily discounted offers, sometimes as low as $2 per month. However, that is usually just the first-year price, and after that it may revert to $38.99/mo. In most cases, people subscribe for a year, cancel, and then sign up again later with a different email for a new promo.

WSJ also frequently has money-maker style deals:

Disney+

For families with kids, Disney+ is a pretty good option. Disney on its own costs less than $20 per month, so you can combine it with another eligible charge. If you have enough credit to work with, you can go straight for the ad-free version.

If you also use other streaming memberships, consider bundling Hulu or ESPN+ with it. The three-service ad-free package is exactly $19.99, which maxes out the credit nicely.

Hulu

Hulu by itself doesn’t seem like the best value compared with the three-service bundle above.

That said, Hulu often has money-maker type deals, which you can check on Swagbucks.

Espn+

ESPN+ by itself costs $9.99. If you don’t need the other services, subscribing only to this one can still make sense. There have also been AMEX Offers for ESPN+ before, which could potentially be stacked.

Peacock

Peacock is a leading U.S. video streaming service owned and operated by the television and streaming division of NBCUniversal, a Comcast subsidiary. Named after the NBC logo, the service launched on July 15, 2020. It primarily features content from NBCUniversal studios and other third-party content providers, including TV shows, movies, news, and sports. The service offers a limited free ad-supported tier, while premium tiers include a larger content library and access to additional NBC Sports and WWE Network content. (Based on the Wikipedia description.)

You can even watch the Tokyo Olympics on it right now.

Membership overview

Its subscription tiers are priced at $4.99 and $9.99 per month, which makes Peacock a good fit for using this credit. Remember: if you want to maximize the reimbursement, choose the monthly plan. The annual plan is $49.99, which exceeds the $20 monthly reimbursement cap.

Unfortunately, the terms clearly say it only works on subscriptions, not bundles or gift cards.

Eligible purchases for Peacock include all Peacock subscriptions, including but not limited to Peacock Premium and Premium Plus, made directly online at www.peacocktv.com. Eligible purchases do not include subscriptions bundled with cable services or other bundles, promotional offers through third parties, or gift cards.

Money-maker opportunities

Peacock subscriptions have a $5 rebate through Mr.Rebates, and it should apply to both membership tiers. So if you’re going to subscribe, going through Mr.Rebates could make it a $5 money maker.

TopCashback has 10% cash back, but the terms don’t specifically mention subscriptions, so it probably won’t work.

Audible (expired on October 1, 2023)

Membership overview

Audible is Amazon’s audiobook platform. Audible Plus costs $7.95, and Premium Plus costs $14.95 per month. If you do the free trial, the first month is free, so remember to use the first-month credit on one of the other services instead.

According to the terms, not only memberships but also direct audiobook purchases qualify for the credit. If you really want to fully use up all of the credit, buying audiobooks is a decent way to fill it out. Unfortunately, Audible does not let you gift memberships and then convert them into gift cards the way Kindle Unlimited does.

Audible: All Audible purchases made directly through www.audible.com are eligible, including Audible subscriptions (Audible Plus and Audible Premium Plus) and audiobook purchases.

Some audiobooks are not cheap, though. This one by “Trump” costs $38.5.

Money-making opportunities

Audible usually does not have portal cashback, but sometimes there are promotions that give an Amazon gift card for signing up. I’ll let everyone know when those come up.

SiriusXM

Membership overview

SiriusXM provides radio service, with various music programming available through both radio and online streaming. It is most commonly used in car radios.

  • Streaming: $10.99/month
  • Car + streaming select: $16.99/month
  • Car + streaming all access: $21.99/month

However, there are usually signup promos, and the first year may cost only $5.

According to the terms, online purchases, phone purchases, and direct mail order purchases all qualify for the credit. However, SiriusXM safety, security or Telematics services (Connected Vehicle), SiriusXM for Business subscriptions, SiriusXM ad sales, and Pandora are excluded.

SiriusXM: Eligible purchases for SiriusXM include purchases made directly with SiriusXM (US) online at www.siriusxm.com, through SiriusXM telephone sales or direct mail order purchase transactions. Eligible purchases do not include SiriusXM safety, security or Telematics services (Connected Vehicle) , SiriusXM for Business subscriptions, SiriusXM ad sales or Pandora.

Money-making opportunities

There have been SiriusXM deals through Swagbucks before, so it is worth checking from time to time.

SiriusXM also has $5 cashback on Rakuten, which is decent.

There have also occasionally been SiriusXM promos with freebies, which can be pretty good when stacked with the credit.

The New York Times

Most people are probably already familiar with The New York Times. The standard price is usually $2 per week, billed once every four weeks.

The student price is even cheaper: $2 every four weeks.

According to the terms, advertising, gift card purchases, and similar transactions do not qualify for the credit. But even if they did, NYT gift cards probably would not be that useful anyway...

The New York Times: Eligible purchases for the New York Times include any subscriptions (including digital or print news, NYT Cooking, and New York Times Games) made directly through www.nytimes.com. Eligible purchases do not include advertising services, NYT conferences, gift cards, the TimesDigest or purchases from the NYTimes company store.

I have not really seen any money-making opportunities for this one.

Summary

Overall, this entertainment credit is pretty underwhelming, since it covers a number of services that are not especially useful. It would be much better if it included things like Apple Music or Netflix. If you already have a use for these services, then this credit is still nice. If not, see whether there are any money-making opportunities and maybe jump in when one appears. Just be especially careful to cancel any service you do not need, because getting “reverse churned” would defeat the whole point.