Research firm Kantar reported that 1.51 million subscriptions were cancelled in the first quarter of 2022.
The UK has seen a huge rise in living costs as both petrol and energy prices have soared in the last months. As a result, households are trying to cut costs any way possible and one of the most manageable costs is the amount of streaming services families subscribe to.
Streaming services saw a rapid rise in subscriptions as the pandemic forced people to stay at home in 2020, but now, over two years later, it seems that people are more keen on spending their money elsewhere. Over half a million cancellations were due to money-saving reasons, according to the study.
16.9 million, or 58% of households subscribe to at least one video streaming service. This might sound like a high-enough number to keep streaming services happy, but it’s in fact down 215 000 quarter-on-quarter and only 3% subscribed to a new streaming service in early 2022. Kantar also reports that Amazon and Netflix are so-called “hygiene” subscriptions. In other words, they are the last to go and deemed somewhat essential by British households.
In Amazon’s case, the Prime Video membership is a perk of the regular Prime subscription so households are potentially more likely to keep it as there are other benefits to it outside of a streaming service.
Kantar also reports that specific films and TV shows are a significant driving force for consumers when deciding whether to sign up for a subscription. Money is tight but streaming services such as Disney, Amazon and Netflix have all pushed to produce their own, highly-anticipated, or at least highly-publicised content rather than just work as a library for those seeking entertainment.
