More than half of Gen Z users renew and cancel streaming services just for one title: study

More than half of Gen Z will take out a streaming subscription just to watch one particular show or movie before canceling it again, a new report has found.

The analysis by Dentsu and IGN Entertainment found that 59 percent of the group, aged between 13 and 28, would actively subscribe and unsubscribe to “chase a single title,” and concluded that “platform loyalty is effectively dead.”

Conducted independently by Kantar and UC Berkeley, the study comprised 6,250 “highly-engaged entertainment consumers” across the U.S., UK and Australia.

“The shift here isn’t necessarily about just creating more, new or original content, because we know that loyalty actually centers on IP that has longevity.” Dentsu global head of gaming, Brent Koning, told Variety.

“Stranger Things,” “Game of Thrones,” “The Walking Dead”… these are sagas that keep audiences engaged and coming back for more. But we’re also seeing that when IP transitions between formats, it brings audiences with it – so those sagas can be borrowed too.”

The study also noted an overall shift in the way that younger generations consume media and content, moving “fluidly between streaming, gaming, social, and search based on what they need in that moment.”

“Entertainment consumption is not fragmented, it is contextual. The winning strategy is not platform ubiquity. It is intent alignment,” the report stated. Gen Z’s watching habits were more likely to be influenced through a “shared dialogue validated by peers.”

This resulted in 59 percent also reporting that they watched the latest episode of a show the day it came out, so as not to have it ruined by spoilers and be able to join the “cultural discourse.”

“While Gen X is defined by a patient 'wait-and-see' approach, preferring to let content arrive on their existing subscriptions, Gen Z views content consumption as a time-sensitive social imperative,” the report states.

Gen Z is a generation that is “willing to pay a premium for immediacy,” it added.

In addition, researchers found that Gen Z is 13 percent more likely to attend opening weekend than older movie-goers, in a positive sign for the industry devastated by the Covid-19 pandemic and the advent of streaming services.

“The research definitely overturns the conventional wisdom about young audiences,” Koning told Variety.

“The fact is that Gen Z treats theatrical attendance as a social and communal experience rather than a screen-worshiping exercise. They are thinking about the theatre as part of a longer overall day or evening experience, not simply a one-and-done event.”

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