By Households cancel streaming services to cut costs
According to reports, the rising cost of living in Britain has led to households cancelling their streaming subscriptions.
Research has suggested a total of 1.51 million services were canned in the first three months of 2022, market research firm Kantar said.
It said more than half a million cancellations were attributed to “money-saving”, with households budgeting for the soaring cost of living prices instead.
About 58% of Britain’s homes now have at least one paid streaming service.
The height of the coronavirus pandemic and lockdowns saw surges in subscriptions for platforms such as Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime.
Researchers said the proportion of consumers planning to cancel subscriptions stating the primary reason as “wanting to save money” had risen to its highest-ever level at 38%.
This was reportedly up from a figure of 29% in the final three months of 2021.
Kantar said households were starting to prioritise where and how their disposable income is spent.
Dominic Sunnebo, global insight director at Kantar’s Worldpanel Division said
“The evidence from these findings suggests that British households are now proactively looking for ways to save,”.
From cancellations, the early months of 2022 saw the lowest ever rate of new subscribers, Kantar said.
In January, Netflix said it added 18.2 million members last year.
It has been suggested that the introduction of Ads could combat the competition and costs of other providers.
Kantar said advertising was “an obvious route for driving revenue growth, but one Netflix has historically strictly shied away from”.
From the BBC, Netflix chief financial officer Spencer Neumann said ‘it’s not like we have religion against advertising’,”
“Data across Great Britain shows Netflix subscribers’ attitudes to advertising are softening, with 44% now stating they don’t mind seeing on streaming services if it makes them cheaper, a significant rise from 38% at the same point in 2021.”
