While titles such as “House of the Dragon,” “Stranger Things” or the latest Marvel offering may still represent must-see viewing for Canadians, households across the country are making hard choices about which shows – and the subscription they require – they enjoy most, according to new data from the Angus Reid Institute.
The report revealed that one-in-three Canadians have cancelled at least one service in the past six months. For at least half, these cancellations are in direct response to a persistent and ongoing cost of living crisis roiling households. Others say they have made cuts to their subscription portfolio because they were not using certain services as much (39%) or that the selection was not up to par (24%).
While these decisions may represent a current setback for streaming service providers, the overall trend in viewing is still working largely in their favour. More than four-in-five (85%) now say they have at least one streaming service subscription, up from approximately half in 2016.
Conversely, as Canadians continue to move toward the on-demand model, just three-in-five now say they subscribe to cable or satellite TV. This represents a five-point drop from 2018 and a 27-point drop over the past decade. For Canadians over the age of 54, this traditional viewership model remains a much bigger part of life – four-in-five (82%) say they still subscribe. Half as many 18- to 34-year-olds say the same (41%).
Moreover, the study discovered that a majority (65%) of Canadians subscribe to more than one streaming platform, including two-in-five (40%) who subscribe to three or more. Meanwhile, nearly one-in-five Canadians (17%) say they have at least four streaming service subscriptions. Approaching one-quarter (23%) say they currently have three.
In many cases, individuals may say they subscribe to a service, but may share that account with another person in their household, thus, the actual total of subscribers reported may be higher than the number of individual subscriptions.