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Streamers Are Bleeding Subscribers

Streamers Are Bleeding Subscribers

Streamers Are Bleeding

December 7, 2021

Despite the Omicron variant news, the pandemic is more or less on the decline. During the height of the pandemic in 2020, streaming services faced boom times as people were stuck at home, many without work. But the economic recovery is now projected to create a large number of cancellations in 2022.

Streamer's Spotlight: Are You Planning to Cancel Subscriptions in 2022?

A new Deloitte report is a bit sobering for streaming service providers. The company predicts that there will be 150 million streaming service cancellations in 2022. Undoubtedly, much of that will come from Netflix, but it could also be particularly damaging for smaller streaming service providers with less content to offer.

1. How Bad Will It Get?

Deloitte's prediction is fairly dire. The company's report predicts a 30% churn rate globally, and a 38% churn rate in the US. The company also notes that Gen Z is the biggest culprit. According to the company, 25% of Gen Zers are eagerly hitting the cancellation button on their streaming services.

2. What's Driving The Churn?

The pandemic and its subsequent ending are undoubtedly a chief cause of the high churn rate. A return to normalcy also means that consumers have less time to watch streaming services than they did in 2020 and 2021. People are looking at their spending and cutting out the unnecessary and highest-priced services that they aren't using.

3. It's Not All Bad

The good thing is that many of those people canceling services will likely be back once new content that they're interested in returns. Disney+ is a great example of this. The company has been releasing content at a fairly decent clip, but by far, its biggest have been Marvel and Star Wars-related shows. Disney has chosen to drip those out on an episode-per-week basis to reduce churn, but there are still content droughts that make churn far more likely to occur.

4. How Are Providers Responding?

Providers have done two things as a response. The first is something we mentioned just above: weekly episode releases. Instead of dropping an entire season that allows users to binge and quit, streaming providers are shifting more toward the weekly release model. This keeps people subscribed longer, and often long enough that providers have less time between major content releases.

The other shift has been in allowing users to pause their accounts instead of forcing them to cancel. Hulu, for example, allows users to pause accounts for a certain number of months.

Churn may be increasing, but providers are in the business of making money. They're strategizing ways to reduce that churn, although they'll need to be more creative to increase new sign-ups, as well.

This Week's Streaming Guide

1. British Medical Comedy 'Bloods' Hits Hulu this Thursday

Could this be the next 'Scrubs'? Only one way to find out. Watch Bloods on Hulu this Thursday (Dec. 9). -

Watch on Hulu

2. 'The Expanse' Season 6 Hits Prime Video this Friday

The wait is finally over. What may be the last season of 'The Expanse' comes to Amazon Prime Video this Friday (Dec. 10). -

Watch on Prime Video

3. Gordon Ramsey Hits the Road in Europe

Coming at you with a new cooking show, watch 'Gordon Ramsey's Road Trip: European Vacation' this coming Monday (Dec. 13), on FOX. -

Watch FOX Live Without Cable

4. New ABC Comedy 'American Auto' Streaming this Monday

From the creators of the comedy hit 'Superstore', 'American Auto' is for the automobile industry lovers out there. Streaming this Monday (Dec. 13) on ABC. -

Watch ABC Live Without Cable