Welcome back to Subscriptions Weekly! This week, we review the price increase in streaming companies, Spotify’s new integration with Patreon for pay-walled podcasts, and the Q2 results for streaming video on-demand (SVOD) brands like Paramount+ and Disney+. Let’s dive in! 

Why are streaming companies raising prices?

Companies are being squeezed by increasing costs, slowing subscriber growth, and creeping inflation as labor strikes in Hollywood threaten their content pipelines going forward. Disney, Netflix, and Apple have announced price increases recently. Some providers are increasing the cost of ad-free options to drive subscribers to ad-supported options that also generate advertiser revenue. Learn more on Investopedia.

Consumers have become price-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. 

Today, knowing the demographics of your business is not enough. 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.

Spotify integrates with Patreon to stream subscriber-only content

The companies have partnered to launch an integration that lets fans listen to subscriber-only Patreon audio directly from their Spotify account. This feature is powered by Spotify Open Access–Spotify’s way of allowing manual RSS uploads. This solution will also support paywalled content from other monetization platforms. Read more on Tech Crunch.

Paramount subscribers are flat, but a new bundle means fresh streaming revenue

Paramount+ only added about 700,000 global subscribers this quarter–totaling 61 million. The company pushed back movie and TV releases to align with the rebrand of its ad-free tier, Paramount with Showtime, in late June. Hence the soft subscriber growth. Paramount’s bundled services are helping bring 40% YOY growth in streaming. Learn more on AdExchanger.

Disney+ loses another 11.7M subs

Although SVOD service Disney+ managed to trim losses, subscriber numbers declined from 157.8 million worldwide to 146.1 million. The company has announced it will roll out its ad-tier plan in Europe in November. 

Reacting to the results, Oscar Wall, Recurly EMEA General Manager, commented: “Streaming media services are reporting interesting financial results this quarter following the changing tide in consumer adoption, mixed with the highly competitive market. Some services have seen muted growth, but there are opportunities as we look ahead. A pivot for long-term success and sustainable retention is key in this environment.” Learn more on Advanced Television. 

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