Quarter of US households cut back on TV and video services
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| 26 August 2022
Changing behaviours are a most common action to counter inflation, but research from Aluma Insights has found that this change over the last six months has seen 26% of US households downgrade or cancel a subscription streaming video (SVOD) or pay-TV service.
Aluma cut back 26Aug2022
The data is drawn from a July 2022 survey of 1,970 US heads of household and is the basis for a new series from Aluma analysts, each discussing the impact of economic uncertainty on consumer TV, video, mobile, and consumer electronic purchases on key demographic segments.

With the unprecedented cost of living crisis during the period, 59% of US households also cut back on dining out and 53% reduced the amount of time they spent driving. More than a third reduced their utility use, while a third reduced expenses of going to see films, concerts and live sports. Only 7% reduced mobile phone expenses, further validating mobile’s utility-like status.

While one-in-five US households downgraded or cancelled an SVOD service, one-in-six did the same with pay-TV service. Those 25-44 years of age showed the highest rates for cutting both forms of home entertainment - 28% for SVOD, 19% for pay-TV - while those 65 and older had the lowest rate (8% for SVOD, 11% for pay-TV). Households making less than $30,000 a year were more likely than other income segments to cut back on both SVOD and pay-TV expenses (27% and 23% respectively).

“Domestic TV and video subscription growth was slowing before the recent wave of inflation,” said Michael Greeson, founder and principal analyst at Aluma. “But the rising costs of consumer goods and services, as well as housing, added fuel to the fire, putting even more pressure on consumers to reduce these expenses.”

Aluma also examined which of these actions were likely to be taken should inflation continue at July 2022 rates. It noted that in many ways, anticipated actions mirror actions taken, though at different rates. “Should this happen, TV and video services can expect further demand erosion,” it concluded.