Over the last few years, I’ve been involved in subscriber surveys around the world through my work at Bango, and we’ve learned that when it comes to subscribers’ behaviors, there are a lot of consistent global trends.
Take, for example, Subscription Fatigue. With the “subscriptionization” of everything (something I’ve written about before at The Streaming Wars), subscribers are getting overwhelmed with managing a growing number of subscriptions, which touch every part of our lives, from entertainment to home security to physical products we use regularly. The recurring payment and use of products have become part of our daily routine.
In all the regions we’ve studied at Bango, which by now includes the USA, LATAM, Europe, Far East, and South East Asia & India – some 27,500 people in 25 countries – we’ve identified several fatigue-related trends in all markets:
- Subscribers find it hard to keep track of where and how they signed up for a sub
- They don’t know how much they’re spending on subs
- They pay for subs they never use (we call these “Vampire Subscriptions”)
- Many can’t afford all the subscriptions they would like
However, I’d like to focus on another interesting development – the Forever Subscription. Two-thirds of us globally now have subscriptions that we will keep forever without pausing or canceling.
This struck us as a fascinating evolution in the subscription economy, and we wanted to double-click on this to learn more. To do this, we’ve initially focused on the UK. To begin, let’s look at some basic facts on the table.
The most popular subscription type in the UK is SVOD (Subscription Video on Demand). The average spend is now £696 ($886) per year, slightly behind the average US spend of $924. However, 1 in 8 Brits spend over £100 ($127) monthly. The equivalent data from our US study was that 1 in 10 spends over $100, so British bingers are bigger spenders. However, overall, the average number of subs in the UK is lower at 3.4 vs 4.5 in the US.
So, in the UK, we’re pretty into subscriptions, paying a lot for them, and our most popular type of subscription is Subscription Video on Demand (Netflix…etc).
This week, we have released data from our first follow-up questions, specifically about Forever Subscriptions. We wanted to understand for UK subscribers, which are their Forever Subscriptions. To do this, we asked, “If you could only have one SVOD, what would it be”? And provided a list of the most popular SVODs available in the UK. The answers are quite stark.
The response from over 1,300 UK subscribers was overwhelming, with almost two-thirds of respondents choosing Netflix. In a somewhat distant second place, we see Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, and then a large gap the rest.
One can infer from this that those three services have become the UK’s Must-Have subscriptions.
For so long, we’ve talked about the streaming wars – the assumption being that there is a multitude of streaming services all vying to win some kind of race, with all players at the starting line, each with an equal chance of “winning.”
However, that distribution of responses warranted a further question. If subscribers have a firm favorite, is there a second choice from a broader selection than these three? Do some of those further behind in the ‘race’ pick up momentum if we ask them to pick two “Forever Subscriptions”?
What I’m about to reveal to you, I don’t think, shows the end of the race, but it does show that for now, at least, there are three standout preferences among SVOD. So here it comes – if you could choose only two streaming services, what would they be?
For now, it seems the UK audience has some strong preferences, and we can see three services appear to be “must-haves” for many.
- 3 out of 4 subscribers would take Netflix
- Half Amazon Prime Video
- A third Disney+
Unexpectedly, NOW – including Sky (Comcast) content – comes ahead of AppleTV+ and Paramount+, potentially because it incorporates much of UK sports coverage.
So, in the UK, there are clear “must haves” in streaming. Is the battle for a permanent seat at the viewing table done? Nothing lasts forever….I suspect 2025 will throw us weekly, even daily, unexpected twists and turns. I can’t wait!
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