Four in ten admit to churning streaming services

The Ipsos Consumer Tracker asks Americans questions about culture, the economy and the forces that shape our lives. Here's one thing we learned this week.

Why we asked: We wanted to trend some streaming questions we’ve asked in the past, and also dig into some behaviors we hadn’t really measured before, notably the industry bugaboo: churn.

What we found: The distribution of how many services we subscribe to hasn’t really changed in the last year or two. About one in ten say they don’t subscribe to or watch any streaming services. About 15% say they subscribe to six or more. Mostly folks subscribe to one or two (30%) or three to five (45%). 

We added some new questions this wave. Half of younger folks subscribe for a show and then bail. About four in ten across groups say they find it easy to get discount codes or free trials. And our attitudes are pretty consistent otherwise. Six in ten say there are too many services. Three in four feel that prices have gone up in the past year. But almost half also think the quality has improved and six in ten say it’s easy to find the programing they’re looking for across platforms. There’s a slight uptick (from 69% to 77%) since two years ago, when we last asked if people would be interested in a service that bundled streaming channels into one easy-to-manage monthly or annual payment. 

More insights from this wave of the Ipsos Consumer Tracker:

Vibe Check: Consumers are freaking out about the government

Polarization is spilling over into tech, while wokeness stays the same

The Ipsos Care-o-Meter: What does America know about vs. what does America care about