A new report in British paper The Guardian has revealed that almost a million British households have given up on streaming services this year due to the cost of living crisis.
The total number of UK homes that have at least one paid-for subscription has fallen by 937,000 between January and September as budget-conscious consumers prioritise food, energy and other essentials over home entertainment.
The fall is despite the premiere of two of the most expensive shows of all time with both “The Rings of Power” and “House of the Dragon” still failing to hold off a 234,000 home drop in the third quarter alone.
The average UK household now sports 2.5 overall subscriptions. Just over sixteen million British homes now pay for at least one SVOD service, with more than five million sporting the most popular three – Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime.
But Netflix has seen the most attrition, accounting for almost a 25% of all UK households that changed or scrapped their streaming service this quarter and 45% of those dropping all SVOD services altogether.
Netflix also just took a 2.1% share of new subscribers over the last quarter, one-fifth of the same proportion as last year, whereas Paramount+ for example took 24.6% of new subscriptions last quarter.
Netflix hopes its new £4.99-a-month Basic with Ads package, launching there on November 3rd, will attract a new wave of sign ups.
