In the abstract, things seem to still be looking up for the streaming industry. Recent studies have shown that, despite slowing domestic subscriber growth, global subscriptions are still expected to reach a massive 2 billion by 2028. But even with such steady growth expected for the industry, individual streaming services still have reason to sweat a bit, according to a recent study by Publishers Clearing House and media studies expert Evan Shapiro.
According to the findings, consumers are currently less loyal to their streaming services than they’ve ever been before. The study found that most Americans — especially those between 18 and 44 years old and whose household income is higher than $150,000 per year — are willing to pay for the media they value most. However, it also showed that a whopping 93% of consumers are at risk of being lost every month.
That 93% share is made up of a mix of users who are looking to cut down their subscriptions, those who stick to a small number of vital subscriptions only, and those who reassess their subscriptions every month. Obviously, not all 93% is going to unsubscribe from a single service in a given month, but the potential volatility in the subscription media market is not something that these streaming services would hope to have. Ideally, platforms would love to lock in their user bases, keeping them engaged through content and affordable subscriptions.
This data comes as no surprise when you keep in mind that the average streaming user has more subscriptions now than ever before, even though most people would like to cut down on the total number of subscriptions they have. This means that many people are constantly reassessing how much they’re paying and how many subscriptions they carry. In a more saturated streaming market, individual services are in a more precarious position than ever.
There’s also the matter of the controversial changes that are coming to the streaming industry, such as Netflix attempting to cut down on password sharing, or the larger shift to ad-supported streaming, we could be seeing a wave of cancellations and new subscriptions based on those events as well. This study backed up those stats regarding a cut-down on password-sharing, with 56% saying that such a crackdown would result in them using a service less.
With people’s financial situations becoming more and more precarious in recent months, the rollout of cheaper, ad-supported plans could be a saving grace for many platforms. The study drilled down on some of the major reasons that people either cancel or sign up for these ad-supported subscriptions, and the top three reasons all related to cost or value. While many people’s decisions were affected by whether the platform had advertising or not, it seems that money is the key factor in most decision-making processes when it comes to what services stay and which ones go.
The study was clear that just because 93% of subscribers are open to cancel a subscription in any given month doesn’t mean that 93% will cancel a subscription in any given month. But if these services hope to maintain the sizes of their audiences in the rapidly changing streaming landscape, they’ll need to focus on making their platforms more affordable and user-friendly.