One-fifth of Brits are churning SVOD subscriptions
One-fifth (21%) of UK video-on-demand (SVOD) subscribers admit to subscription cycling — the highest ever recorded, according to the latest ScreenThink report from insights consultancy MTM.
The study also found that an additional 42% of Brits are “open” to cycling, implying a growing normalisation of churn.
This is being fuelled in part by a market “saturated with promotions”, the study concludes.
More than half (55%) of SVOD subscriptions are now purchased via special or bundled offers. These users are nearly twice as likely to churn in the future (73% versus 41%), apparently comfortable with moving on once their deal’s promotional period has expired.
“It seems the ubiquity of deals and special offers has trained consumers to see subscriptions not as long-term commitments, but as flexible, short-term assets,” the report suggests.
Price hikes
Breaking the survey down by service, MTM found that Amazon has caused substantial reliance on bundling for its Prime Video product. Accordingly, one-third of Prime Video subscribers said they would cancel the service if it were unbundled with Amazon’s wider Prime membership.
Of the remaining two-thirds who would stay, 40% said they would only be willing to pay £5 or less per month for the service, suggesting both a low perception of the service’s entertainment value and a high perception of the value of Amazon’s wider subscription offering.
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Meanwhile, price hikes of various SVOD services appear to be testing “the limits of loyalty”.
The report notes that the proportion of Netflix users paying for their own account fell year on year for the first time in three years (from 76% to 72%). At the same time, password sharing among survey respondents crept up from 6% to 8%.
It follows price hikes to the streaming giant’s various tiers last February.
Other competitors have similarly increased their prices this year, including Disney+, Discovery+, and Sky’s NOW.
Towards an intention economy
“The core challenge has pivoted from acquisition to earning loyalty, moment by moment,” comments MTM director Philippe Epailly.
The shift, he suggested, is one in which streaming platforms must compete in the “intention economy” rather than the “attention economy”, with consumers reassessing the value of their subscriptions monthly amid rising prices and tightening belts.
“Simply grabbing eyeballs is no longer enough,” Epailly continues. “Platforms must now understand the shifting intentions of far more discerning and deliberate viewers who are curators of their own media ecosystems”.
Epailly suggests the platforms that thrive in a churn-driven market are those that “look beyond the content slate and truly get to grips with the behavioural science of retention”.
This could include reexamining pricing strategies, improving the user experience, or reconsidering package deals with competitors.
MTM’s ScreenThink study was conducted in June 2025. It surveyed a nationally representative sample of 3,001 UK online adults aged 16+.
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