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(Picture: PA Archive)The rising cost of living has led to people cancelling their streaming subscriptions, new research suggests.
More than 1.5 million services were cancelled in the first three months of the year, market research firm Kantar found.
More than half a million of these were due to “money saving” as households look for ways to cut back amid the soaring cost of living.
People have begun budgeting for higher prices and energy bills.
Some 58 per cent of households now have at least one paid streaming service, data showed.
Numerous lockdowns have led to more people paying for streaming services including Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime.
But now people are trying to cut back on costs due to the rising cost of living.
Kantar said households were “starting to seriously prioritise where and how their disposable income is spent”.
Dominic Sunnebo, global insight director at Kantar’s Worldpanel Division, said the latest research would be “sobering” for the industry.
“The evidence from these findings suggests that British households are now proactively looking for ways to save,” he said.
Amazon Prime’s thriller series Reacher was the most-watched title in the first three months of 2022, researchers found.
Crime drama series Ozark and Inventing Anna on Netflix were the next most-watched shows.
Kantar also said despite “churn” rates increasing almost across all streaming platforms, there was a “clear difference” in the number of subscriptions cancelled outside of Netflix and Amazon.
“Netflix and Amazon can be seen to be hygiene subscriptions for Brits; the last to go when households are forced to prioritise spend,” Kantar said.
“Disney, Now TV, Discovery+ and BritBox all saw significant jumps in churn rates quarter-on-quarter.”
The first quarter of 2022 also saw the lowest ever rate of new subscribers, according to Kantar.
In January, Netflix said it added 18.2 million members last year - roughly half the number who subscribed in 2020.
