Could Subscription Cancelling Be the New Cable Cutting?

We’ve become increasingly reliant on a growing number of different online services.

16:59 21 April 2021

Whether that be through different music streaming platforms to get our fill of new albums or podcasts, online video streaming for the latest movie and TV releases, or even to online gaming options as many different genres such as these NJ casinos offer VIP services for those willing to offer a little extra. The problem for many is that there are just so many services now, how can you determine which are the best and which are the most worthwhile to stick to? And given the recent announcements at the end of last year that would see the Hollywood studio of Warner Bros announce they would also be sending new releases directly to streaming platforms instead raises a question, will there be a period of time where subscription cancelling becomes something to be considered?

 

The question is raised as concerns around content only being placed on specific platforms is seemingly becoming more common – with the example of the Warner Bros change being aimed at the HBO Max service, success this year could lead many other studios to follow which could also mean big releases are spanned across multiple different services leading to increasing costs for each. It may come to a point where users will have to decide between keeping certain subscriptions running and cancel others depending on what may be on the release schedule. Many already choose between some active services with the likes of Netflix, Prime, Disney+, and others more specific to certain releases, and it has been seen in the past how one release can carry a service and lead to mass cancellation down the road.

 

They’re certainly at the biggest they’ve ever been, Disney recently announced that they managed to reach over 100 million subscribers in less than two years following their initial goals to reach the number by 2024, showing just how successful many of the bigger services are, and with the bigger budgets to continue pushing the new releases too they certainly won’t slow any time soon either, but prices keep going up, and things like Disney’s own premiere access pass may eventually harm the numbers more than they help.

 

It’s certainly an interesting period of time, some services like Spotify may seem unreplaceable as there aren’t any suitable replacements, as such it’s largely in gaming and video streaming that are the primary targets for now, but others will certainly look to fill any gaps left behind and cancelling expensive subscriptions that offer less than others could certainly be the big change following in the path of cable cutting before.