Many Canadians cut subscription services amid cost-of-living crisis

As Canadians look to cut expenses to deal with the cost of living crisis, many are cancelling subscriptions to streaming services.

An Angus Reid Institute poll finds about a third of respondents have ditched at least one streaming service over the past six months.

About half of those did it as a direct result of rising inflation affecting day-to-day living expenses.

Related stories: 

• Bank of Canada raises interest rate for sixth time to 3.75%

• How families are coping as food inflation hits 41 year high

However, the cost of living wasn’t the only reason many have parted ways with the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime, Crave, and more. The survey finds many cut subscriptions because they weren’t using a certain service as much or they weren’t happy with the selection.

The institute notes this trend has also come as subscription costs rise, as some companies introduce ads, and as platforms threaten to crack down on password sharing.

According to the survey, two-in-five people asked subscribe to three or more streaming services. Of the respondents who say they’ve cancelled at least one service, one-in-five did so “because they had too many.”

The Angus Reid Institute is looking at how many people have cancelled subscriptions to streaming services in the last six months amid rising inflation and other factors. (Courtesy Angus Reid Institute)

“A majority (65%) of Canadians subscribe to more than one, including two-in-five (40%) who subscribe to three or more,” the Angus Reid Institute says. “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.”