The Great Exodus of Streaming: 150 million people will cancel some subscription in 2022

The perfect storm for services such as Netflix, HBO Max or Disney + will arrive in 2022. According to the Consultant Deloitte, next year more than 150 million people will cancel any of the subscriptions that have been contracted to these entertainment services on demand and, in the midst of
This exodus, the companies will have to invest even more in production and catalog to keep users more faithful.

The prediction is part of the annual report that the consultancy elaborates on the media market, and paints a complex and very dynamic scenario for the avalanche of services, both free and fee, and fatigue that begin to generate subscriptions between
the consumers.
“Many have been overwhelmed by managing and paying all those subscriptions, and have become more sensitive at their cost,” they indicate from the consultant.

It is not so much of a general drop in the number of subscribers to streaming services (in fact it is possible that the total number of subscriptions increase in 2022) but to a rather high rotation between the different services and, in many cases, a migration towards
Free entertainment offers supported by ads instead of models without advertisements of payment of the best known platforms.

The reasons are several, but in mature markets, such as the United States, the number of households that will cancel a service will collaborate 35%.
In Europe, which is a younger market with a different dynamic for the amount of free content available through local television channels, the figure is likely to be kept below 25%, according to Deloitte data.

For payment platforms, this lack of fidelity is dangerous.
Capturing a new customer has average cost approximately about $ 200, which means that if it remains less than 15 months on the platform, it loses money.

The greatest variety of services and the amount of exclusive releases also created a type of user known as Hit and Run, which is subscribed to a platform only to see a series or success film (hit) and then does not sign up again or
It does not do it until after a few months, when the catalog returns to have something that interests them.

In the United States this type of user can reach 62% of the new high in a service and 43% of them cancel their subscription on the same day that ends up seeing the content by which they subscribed.

Some streaming services have begun to counteract this effect by returning to the formula of weekly emissions of new episodes of a series, for example, instead of turning all the content at a time, or stepping the productions so that subscribers have another series
Success to get hooked once they end up which led them to contract for the first time the service.
This is what Disney + has achieved, for example, alternating miniseries of nine or ten episodes of its most popular franchises, such as Marvel or Star Wars.

But to achieve it, they must invest huge amounts of money in new productions.
“Seek to retain clients through the strength of its content and are spending billions of dollars a year to develop and acquire first-level programming, it is not sustainable to spend so much, and consumers will not support many price increases,”
They explain from the consultant.

Netflix is one of the applications on demand that has had to raise subscription prices recently so that the cuadren accounts.
The cost of its STANDARD and Premium subscription services in the USA. It has happened from $ 16 to $ 17 per month in the first case and from 20 to $ 23 a month in the second.
In Spain it rose to 17.99 euros.
“We have increased prices to continue investing in producing films and series,” justify from the company.

Among those who cancel the services, however, the exclusivity and quality of the content do not have as much weight and the cost.
28% of respondents by Deloitte say that having smaller price plans, even if they come accompanied by ads, would be the best way to reconsider their decision.
Another popular demand is the inclusion of films on the same day of the premiere in cinemas, a launch strategy with which it has been experienced during the pandemic.