Many more people are jumping from one streaming subscription to another, a behavior that could have big implications for the entertainment industry.

Americans are getting increasingly impulsive about hitting the cancellation button on their streaming services. More than 29 million — about a quarter of domestic paying streaming subscribers — have canceled three or more services over the last two years, according to Antenna, a subscription research firm. And the numbers are rising fast.

The data suggests a sharp shift in consumer behavior — far from the cable era, when viewers largely stuck with a single provider, as well as the early days of the so-called streaming wars, when people kept adding services without culling or jumping around.

Among these nomadic subscribers, some are taking advantage of how easy it is, with a monthly contract and simple click of a button, to hopscotch from one service to the next. Indeed, these users can be fickle — a third of them resubscribe to the canceled service within six months, according to Antenna’s research.

“In three years, this went from a very niche behavior to an absolute mainstream part of the market,” said Jonathan Carson, the chief executive of Antenna.

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  • Ech@lemm.ee
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    7 months ago

    It’s the only practical option. Unless we get cable like packages (which I wouldn’t be surprised to see soon), nobody wants to pay for some 10+ subscriptions for 1-2 shows on each platform. But if you cycle a couple subscriptions every few months, it’s the same (cheaper) cost year round, but you get all the content you want.

    Having described it, I think that’s probably why we’re seeing more and more shows returning back to weekly releases - that model keeps the subscribers on the hook for longer. We can always just wait till it’s done, of course, but there’s a number of factors that can pressure viewers into remaining subscribed.