Ofcom have reported that 350,000 households in the UK have become virtual cord-cutters, ending their subscriptions to pricey streaming subscriptions such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney Plus as spirallng living costs begin to bite.
The media regulator said that this represented a one per cent overall drop in households with on-demand streaming subscriptions, down to 67 per cent, or 19.2 million homes.
According to figures, twice as many of these subscription losses were from the newer on-demand streamers, Prime and Disney, than the previously-dominant Netflix.
In their report, they highlighted the spiralling cost of living for this fall. The regulators said the drop reflects "the flexibility that allows customers to pick up and drop subscriptions depending on changes in programmes, needs or circumstances.”
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This reflects an increasingly difficult global environment for the streaming giants, who face stiff competition for both content and the dwindling number of households with the disposable income to pay their fee. Roughly three-quarters of lost subscribers said they'd return in a better financial climate.
In response, the big three streamers are all now introducing ad-supported plans. Amazon already has free-to-stream Freevee, Netflix plans to bring in a cut-price ad-supported tier - while Disney plans to introduce ads to its $7.99 sub and create a new $10.99 "premium" subscription.
Despite this fall, the big three streamers remain dominant in British media. In total, 60 per cent of all UK households have a Netflix subscription, ahead of Prime Video (46per cent) and Disney Plus (23 per cent).
Worldwide, while this slowed growth and slight decline has panicked investors, both Netflix and Disney remain dominant as they each hold more than 220 million subscribers - meaning a minimum income of $1.7bn every month alone.
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