More than 1.5 million subscription services have been stopped in the first quarter of the year, according to data analysts Kantar.
Popular TV, film and music streaming services, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Apple+, have been cancelled as households take further stock of their spending due to the rising costs of living.
While 58% of households still retain at least one paid-for streaming service, that number also fell by 215,000 in the first quarter of this year.
‘Sobering’ moment for streaming services
Dominic Sunnebo, the global insight director at Kantar Worldpanel, the publisher of the Entertainment on Demand report said: “With many streaming services having witnessed significant revenue growth during the height of Covid, this moment will be sobering.
“The evidence from these findings suggests that British households are now proactively looking for ways to save, and the subscription video-on-demand (SVoD) market is already seeing the effects of this.”
The churn rate
The Kantar Worldpanel report found that 16.9 million UK households had at least one subscription service at the end of the first quarter.
While there were 1.29 million new subscriptions to SVoD services in the UK in the first three months, this was outweighed by 1.51 million cancellations.
Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video, the world’s two most popular streaming platforms, had the lowest rate of customers leaving in the first quarter.
“Netflix and Amazon can be seen to be hygiene subscriptions for Brits; the last to go when households are forced to prioritise spend,” the Kantar report said.
“Disney, Now TV, Discovery+ and BritBox all saw significant jumps in churn rates quarter-on-quarter.”
Prime Video’s thriller series, Reacher, and Netflix dramas Ozark and Inventing Anna proved to be the most popular shows on services in the UK in the first three months of 2022.
‘Rising bills are starting to bite’
Josh Rom, entertainment journalist, speaking on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme on Tuesday, said: “Rising household bills are starting to bite. If households want to want to watch premium content they have to pay significant costs to various different subscriptions which is a large cost when it is combined.
“Netflix are raising its bills, and that is just Netflix and doesn’t include sports like WWE.
“This cost will continue to add up and that is why we are seeing the decline and households cancelling streaming services.
“I don’t think people are cancelling altogether – people are choosing which service to keep.”
Asked which one is best value for money, he continued: “They all have their own benefits – Netflix has unmissable series, while Apple+ has Oscar winning content with Coda taking best picture.
Netflix prices to increase by 17%
Netflix has announced it will be increasing its prices by 17%.
The streaming platform, which had around 17 million subscribers in the UK as of late 2021, has confirmed its basic and standard plans will increase by £1 a month to £6.99 and £10.99, while the premium tier will go up by £2 to £15.99 from May 12 2022 for UK and Ireland subscribers.