UK consumers have cancelled 1.5m SVoD subscriptions this year, as cost of living pressures hit households’ non-essential outgoings, according to a report from research firm Kantar.
The churn of streamer subs outweighed the 1.3m additions over the three months to the end of March, with half a million people citing “money saving” as the reason for cancelling.
Overall, the number of homes with at least one paid SVoD subscription fell by 215,000 in the first quarter, with the study finding 16.9m households had at least one subscription service at the end of Q1.
The Kantar Worldpanel Entertainment on Demand report identified Netflix and Amazon Prime as the two ‘must have’ subscriptions, with newer global services Disney+ and Apple TV+, Sky’s Now, BritBox and Discovery suffering “significant jumps” in churn.
“Netflix and Amazon can be seen to be the last to go when households are forced to prioritise spend,” said Dominic Sunnebo, global insight director at Kantar Worldpanel.
“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 SVoD market is already seeing the effects of this.”
The report follows Netflix’s modest Q4 results for 2021, in which the streamer’s overall growth for global subs additions slowed.
In contrast, Disney+ reported improved subscriptions for Q1 2022, although senior leadership noted improving ARPU (average revenue per user) as something they are seeking to address this year.
This story first appeared in Screen’s sister site Broadcast
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