UK homes cancel streaming services to reduce spending
Almost 1m British households have given up on the streaming revolution so far this year, as the cost of living crisis forces increasingly budget-conscious consumers to stop taking services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+.
The premiere of two of the most-hyped and expensive shows of all time – the $650m (£580m) productions of Rings of Power and House of the Dragon – failed to prove a big enough draw to reverse a decline of another 234,000 homes with at least one paid streaming service in the third quarter.
The total number of UK homes that have at least one paid-for subscription has fallen by 937,000 between January and September, as cost-conscious households choose paying for essentials – such as energy, food and mortgage repayments – over home entertainment.
“One million households have stopped streaming,” said Dominic Sunnebo, the global insight director at Kantar Worldpanel.
“The reason people are cancelling is the need to save money. The most recent quarter saw two of the most anticipated releases of the year, they ranked as the top two most enjoyed pieces of subscription video-on-demand content during the period, and yet we still saw a continuation of the negative trend of the market getting smaller.”
Just over 16m British homes now pay for at least one subscription video-on-demand service according to Kantar Worldpanel. More than 5m homes have the three most popular services – Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+ – which together cost about £300 annually, according to media regulator Ofcom.
The report highlights the struggle that Netflix, which is to launch a low price ad-supported tier in a dozen countries in November, faces to revive growth.
The world’s biggest streamer, which has cut staff and become more
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