What we’re seeing
Alkami Research analyzed payments that account holders were making to video streaming services from 2020 to 2023.
In our panel, the average number of video streaming services that account holders paid each month rose from 1.41 at the beginning of 2020 to a peak of 1.63 in March of 2023. The trendline hit a downturn during the remainder of 2023 to end the year at 1.53 subscriptions per user.
The average dollars paid to all video streaming services had a positive trend throughout the period analyzed. In January 2020, the average user was paying $20.48 to video streaming services. By December 2023, that amount had increased 41.3 percent to an average of $31.78.
While the average users were making payments to 1.53 individual video streaming services each month, 4 percent of the panel had 4 or more of those subscriptions.
Consumers may have reduced the number of video streaming services as individual streaming services raised their prices. In 2023, consumers were battling with inflation in general, so small cuts to video streaming services may have been a response. So, which is the favorite streaming service provider?
So, which is the favorite streaming service provider? Netflix leads the way, with, on average, slightly more than 50 percent of the panel holding a Netflix account.
Takeaway and Call to Action
The subscription economy is here to stay. Financial institutions can develop some tactical messaging to grab some of the share of the subscription market. First, reminding account holders to put video streaming service subscription payment on the financial institutions’ debit card will drive interchange revenue. Streaming subscribers likely have other subscriptions too, and this messaging will give a nudge to make sure the institution’s card is top of wallet.
Help your heavy streaming subscribers improve financial wellness by reminding them to review all subscriptions regularly and cancel those that they aren’t using in order to stay within their budget. Financial institutions should suggest that money from canceled subscriptions be put into a savings account via automatic transfer each month.
Source
Alkami Telemetry Data for this figure was sourced from a panel of 22 financial institutions with more than 2.5 million account holders and over 1.5 billion transactions.