The streaming service model relies on the consumer’s willingness to juggle an array of subscriptions. But Gen Z is rejecting that business model.
Instead of staying loyal to one platform, younger viewers are increasingly treating streaming services like temporary rentals: subscribe, binge, cancel, and repeat.
A new report from entertainment company IGN found 59% of Gen Zers today actively subscribe and then unsubscribe to a streaming service just to watch their favorite show, shifting platforms away from long-term entertainment homes.
Subscription-based streaming services were in their heyday during the pandemic years, when people had little to entertain them besides the shows it seemed like everyone was talking about on your Zoom, like Tiger King and The Queen’s Gambit. But the study—a survey of 6,250 of what the researchers call “highly-engaged entertainment consumers” across the U.S., U.K., and Australia—found the streaming business model may be floundering, at least for younger viewers. Gen Z is more likely to chase down a title than to pledge their loyalty to a single platform, according to the study.
Americans pull back on streaming
The revolt has limits, though. Despite their frustration, younger people still subscribed to the most platforms out of any generation. Gen Z and millennials hold the most subscriptions, averaging 3.51 and 3.27 active services, respectively. But that’s down from an average of 4.54 subscriptions for all generations in 2024, according to Forbes. Still, U.S. consumers are spending on average $69 per month for subscriptions, according to Deloitte. That’s about $828 per year.
Even as young people cling on to some subscriptions—and Americans overall are still more likely to use streaming than cable or satellite—the rate of new signups has lulled. Subscription growth fell to 7% last year, down from 12% in 2024, according to Antenna, a subscription economy data provider. And young people are playing a big role in shifting away from streaming. Between December and January, 37% of Gen Z subscribers said they canceled at least one streaming service due to subscription fatigue, according to data from consumer-analytics platform Civic Science. Another 29% said they planned to do the same thing soon.
Overall, consumers are paying less for entertainment. The study also found 62% have stopped paying full price for video games. And predictably, consumers are much less likely to spend on physical media. Roughly 70% said they don’t purchase physical movies or shows, and 71% no longer buy CDs or vinyls.
Why Gen Z is heading to the theater
But the study offers a bright spot among the generation’s media consumption habits: Gen Z is 13% more likely to attend a movie during an opening weekend than older moviegoers. Overall, Gen Z is more likely to say they’ve seen a movie in theaters than older generations, treating moviegoing as an active social event.
That comes as a staggering 87% of the generation said they were experiencing streaming fatigue, according to the Civic Science study. Moviegoing, to young people, is the antidote to that screentime burnout. Grabbing a bag of popcorn, reclining a seat, and turning the phone on silent offers an experience incomparable to watching a film or TV from bed where notifications and other distractions are always in reach.
“The fact is that Gen Z treats theatrical attendance as a social and communal experience rather than a screen-worshiping exercise,” Dentsu’s global head of gaming, Brent Koning, told Variety about the findings. “They are thinking about the theater as part of a longer overall day or evening experience, not simply a one-and-done event.”
