UK homes cancelled 2m streaming services last year as cost of living soared

Small recovery at end of 2022 likely to be short-lived, with Netflix's new ads package failing to reignite growth

British households cut more than 2m subscriptions to services such as Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+ last year, as the cost of living crisis fuelled the first annual decline since the UK streaming revolution began a decade ago.

Despite a boost from the royal family, with viewers flocking to the Harry & Meghan documentary and enduring demand for episodes of The Crown, almost 900,000 UK households gave up on the streaming services last year, as the total number having at least one paid-for subscription fell from 17.12m in 2021 to 16.24m.