The need to economize has led to over one million United Kingdom-based subscribers canceling streaming services, like Apple Music, in Q1 2022, says a new report.
Kantar Research notes that there is a decline in the number of young people with music streaming subscriptions in the UK.
The research used in the report covers all streaming services available in the UK and specifies Apple Music, Spotify, and Amazon Music. It reports that across all of the services, the number of new music subscribers in Q1 2022 “dropped to below 1% of the population” in the UK.
“With inflation rising to 9% in the United Kingdom and further rises in the cost of living expected,” reports the company, “the rising cancellation rates of music subscriptions is evidence that British households are starting to prioritise the spending of their disposable income.”
“Over 1 million subscriptions were cancelled in the last quarter,” the report continues, “which has also seen the highest level of consumers citing they want to save money as the reason they want to cancel their subscription, at 37%.”
Kantar notes that in the same period in 2021, a need to save money was given as a reason by 33% of people canceling their subscriptions.
“[In the UK] subscriptions are dropping the quickest amongst younger consumers,” says Kantar. “[The] percentage of under 35 having access to a music subscription having dropped from 57.0% to 53.5% year on year.”
Kantar’s research says other reasons for younger subscribers’ cancelations because of technical difficulties, a limited selection of music, and too many ads.
Q1 2022 key takeaways:
- Over 1 million music subscriptions have been canceled in the last quarter in GB, with wanting to save money being cited by 37% of consumers as the reason they canceled.
- Value for money is still the #1 driver of new subscriptions in 3 of our 4 survey regions, with only Germany having a different leading reason (music platforms my friends use)
- The number of new music subscribers dropped to below 1% of the population in GB in Q1 of 2022, with the US and Germany also seeing a drop in new subscribers compared to the last year.
- In GB, subscriptions are dropping the quickest amongst younger consumers; the percentage of those under 35 having access to a music subscription having dropped from 57.0% to 53.5% year on year.
