With the cost of living crisis continuing to get worse in the United Kingdom due to increasing inflation and rising fuel bills, most households are looking to try to save money, and streaming services are one of the first targets by those looking to cut costs.

According to regulator Ofcom’s annual Media Nations UK report, 19.2 million UK households currently subscribe to a streaming service, making up 67% of UK households.   With the BBC iPlayer being the most popular streaming service in the UK.

While streaming services exploded during the pandemic, people are now starting to cut how many subscriptions they have, as the report from Ofcom says that the decline has sped up in the last quarter, with 4% of Disney+ subscribers cancelling.  This is on par with Amazon Prime Video, while Netflix currently has 2% of people unsubscribing.  However, the number of households in the UK that are subscribed to all three has grown to one-fifth of the population.  Ofcom estimates that more than 350,000 subscribers have subscribed to one streaming service in the last quarter.

Ofcom flagged the cost of the living crisis as “putting pressure on consumer spend.”

Netflix is currently the most popular streaming service in the UK, with 60% of the UK subscribed, with Amazon Prime following at 46%. At the same time, 23% of the United Kingdom are now subscribed to Disney+.    Other streaming services available in the UK also include Discovery+ (8%) and Apple TV+ (6%).  Paramount+ has only recently launched, so numbers are currently available.

The bad news for UK broadcasters is that as more of the UK audience subscribed to the primary streaming services, the average viewing fell by 9%, and there is a generational divide as the over-65s were seven times more likely to watch linear TV than young people.

The good news, is that for streaming services like Disney, the report does say that around three-quarters of people surveyed said they would consider resubscribing, “reflecting the flexibility of the SVoD consumer proposition,” with customers “picking up and dropping subs depending on [specific shows] or change in needs or circumstances.”

This is one reason why Disney spreads out its new releases like “She-Hulk” and “Andor” weekly, to help keep subscribers longer.  The introduction of the general entertainment brand, Star, in early 2021, has helped reduce how people unsubscribe to Disney+ in the UK.

If you are struggling and want to save money on your streaming services, rotating through streaming services is an ideal way of doing so.   Annual plans to Disney+ can also save money if you are planning on subscribing for a long time, and also keep an eye out for offers through various retailers like Tesco, who offer a discount.   Disney and Netflix will both be launching ad-supported tiers in the future, which will keep a lower price option available to some households.

Source – Deadline

Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

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