Welcome back to Subscriptions Weekly! This week, we review the ad tier and password-sharing crackdown efficiency, Peloton’s subscriber losses, Apple Podcast's new creator tools, and the subscription pricing for the travel and hospitality industry. Let’s dive in. 

Why streaming services are pushing subscribers to ad tiers

With better margins and the streaming ad business still on the rise, companies find themselves incentivized to push subscribers to ad tiers. Executives at every streaming giant say that total revenue per user is higher on their ad-supported plan. Even before the pricing changes, ad tiers were having an impact–40% of new Disney+ subs were choosing the ad tier. Read more on The Hollywood Reporter.

Consumers have become cost-conscious buyers across generations, and subscription businesses must understand their preferences when making price adjustments. According to our new survey, 54% of Boomers cite price increases as the most common reason they cancel any subscription, while only 27% of Gen Z said the same. 

Our new report, Boomers to Gen Z: A guide to subscriber preferences, gives you insights into the free trials, signups, loyalty, cancellations, payments, and communication preferences of Boomers, Gen Jones, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z.

Netflix sees big subscriber gains from password-sharing crackdown

It's becoming clear that Netflix's password-sharing crackdown has been a resounding success–a big spike in June (and late May) in the US helped propel Netflix to a great Q2, in which it added 5.9M subscriptions worldwide. That trend continued in July, though it moderated a bit, which was to be expected after an initial surge when the crackdown was introduced. Learn more on Business Insider.

Peloton stock crushed as seat post recall, subscriber losses hurt quarterly results

Peloton has been struggling to turn itself around after the once-high-flying stock started tumbling during the pandemic amid supply chain issues and safety incidents that led to recalls. Peloton's subscribers declined by 29,000 from the previous quarter, though on a year-over-year basis, subscriptions grew 4%. The company's fiscal fourth-quarter revenue of $642.1 million fell 5.4% from the same period last year, and year to date, Peloton shares are down about 30%. Read more on Yahoo! 

Apple Podcasts gain new creator tools

Apple announced several updates to its podcast creator tools, including Subscription Analytics. Now, podcasters will gain access to a new dashboard to track their key metrics around subscriptions–tracking things like which listeners started a free trial and which have become paid subscribers. Learn more on TechCrunch.

Subscription pricing for the travel and hospitality industry

The travel and hospitality industry constantly strives to elevate customer experiences, optimize revenues, and establish enduring customer relationships. The adoption of subscription-based pricing models has emerged as a promising avenue for industry stakeholders as it creates continuous, mutually beneficial customer relationships, promotes loyalty, and generates predictable revenue streams for providers. Keep reading on Hospitality Net.

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From the Recurly blog

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