Thousands cancel Netflix or Prime Video as UK cost of living soars

theguardian.com:

Almost 800,000 UK households cancelled their subscriptions to Netflix or Amazon Prime Video between April and June, as the cost of living crisis forces streaming fans to cut back on the number of services they pay for to just a few favourites.

The number of homes with access to at least one subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service fell from 19.57m in the first quarter to 19.19m at the end of the second, a net decrease of 382,000, according to the latest survey by the Broadcast Audience Research Board (Barb).

The UK survey figures follow two quarterly reports of subscriber losses from Netflix – which has had tens of billions wiped off its market value after losing 1.5 million customers so far this year – the first drop in sign-ups in a decade for the UK’s most popular paid-for streaming service.

Between April and June 206,000 households dropped their subscription to Netflix, which has put its subscription price up twice in the past two years, taking the streamer’s UK customer base down from 17.29m to 17.08m.

Amazon’s Prime Video, which is bringing in its own price rise for British customers from September, reported the steepest decrease among the most popular SVOD services in the UK.

The number of UK homes with access to Prime Video, which is accessible as part of Amazon’s Prime subscription service, fell by 589,000 quarter-on-quarter from 13.35m to 12.76m.

Sky’s Now TV dropped from 43,000 homes, taking its subscriber base to 2.07m households at the end of the second quarter.

“The numbers we report today show SVOD services aren’t immune as households work hard to make ends meet,” said Justin Sampson, the chief executive of Barb.

“We don’t ask households why they choose to add or drop subscriptions, although the sharp increase