Three of the top five streaming series are available on Netflix, with the other two being available on competing providers Now TV and Disney+. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, many consumers signed up for Prime Video, AppleTV+, and Paramount+, but one in ten of them intends to cancel at least one subscription by 2023.
As the cost of living crisis impacted households in 2022, there were two million fewer TV streaming service subscribers in Britain.
According to statistics from analytics firm Kantar, the overall number of subscribers to services like Netflix in England, Wales, and Scotland decreased from 30.54 million in the last three months of 2021 to 28.46 million by the end of 2022.
The number of persons with at least one paid-for subscription also decreased, from 17.12 million in the final three months of 2021 to 16.24 million in the final quarter of 2022, along with the overall number of subscribers.
A lot of people signed up for new subscriptions in the weeks leading up to Christmas last year, but the numbers show the rate slowed: 5% of British households signed up for a new streaming subscription in the fourth quarter, down from 6% in the previous quarter.
The surge was driven by subscriptions to Prime Video, AppleTV+, and Paramount+.
According to Kantar, one in ten customers expect to cancel one or more subscriptions in the first few months of this year, so the increase is probably temporary.
The rate of inflation is obstinately high and has been in double digits since July.
The Bank of England’s efforts to curb inflation by raising interest rates has put further pressure on consumers by raising the cost of borrowing.
The top watched streaming programs in December were also disclosed by Kantar.
The most watched streaming program on Netflix was the Addams Family spinoff Wednesday, which was closely followed by The Crown.
The White Lotus from HBO, which is available on Sky’s Now TV, came in third, followed by the Disney+ Star Wars spinoff Andor.
Fifth place went to the Netflix documentary on Harry and Meghan.
It was discovered in August of last year that Disney+ had, for the first time, more subscribers than Netflix.
Later, Netflix released a lower £4.99 subscription deal with commercials in an effort to reach 4.5 million users by the end of the previous year.
However, on news that its brand-new advertising-funded service had a terrible launch, shares in the streaming juggernaut dropped by more than 8% in December, knocking $11.5 billion off its stock market worth.
