Thursday 21st April: Streaming subscriptions in decline as UK households cut budgets

April 21, 2022

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The Guardian is reporting the streaming subscriptions boom is over. Subscriber numbers at Netflix, Amazon and Disney+ fell in the first quarter as the cost of living crisis forced difficult choices on thousands of UK households.

With inflation at a 30-year high, the number of UK homes with at least one paid-for streaming service fell by 215,000. And in stark contrast to pandemic-fueled growth, home entertainment budgets are now being trimmed and the number of streaming subscriptions being reduced. Netflix and Amazon Prime Video are less likely to be cut than the newer Disney+.

In a lesson for all subscription businesses, Dominic Sunnebo at Kantar Worldpanel said, "In times of financial uncertainty, services need to be indispensable in subscribers’ minds."

Increasing digital media consumption and ecommerce growth are driving the continued rise in US digital ad revenues. According to the IAB, total digital ad revenue for 2021 came to $189 billion – a $50 billion jump in a just one year, and the highest year-on-year increase since 2006. Yes 2020 was a bust, but 35% growth is significant in any year.

Listener numbers to the New Statesman's podcasts have doubled since the publication established an in-house team in 2021. Off the back of that success the title has added a new weekly Audio Long Reads podcast. The show will feature the best of the news and culture weekly's reported features, profiles and essays read by the authors and voice actors.

There's a social media celebrity on the cover of Rolling Stone and that makes me feel sad and old in equal measure. I know change is the only constant, and Rolling Stone just had its most profitable year in forever, but at what price? The magazine that's featured every music legend since the 60s has a YouTuber rolling around in cash on the cover of its inaugural 'Creators' issue and that sort of says it all.

This week's episode:

Springer Nature’s flagship Nature Podcast has been a strong competitor in our Awards. The podcast scooped the Best Science & Medical Podcast in 2020, and in 2021, also won the Best Coronavirus Podcast category with Coronapod. Peter spoke to Nature’s Senior Multimedia Editor Benjamin Thompson about planning a dedicated Coronavirus podcast with a team all working from their homes.

Time is flying and this year's Publisher Podcast Awards ceremony is just a week away! We've sold out of in-person tickets, but you can still register to watch the online stream over on the Awards website.