Whether it’s streaming music with Spotify or getting meal kits delivered to your door with Hello Fresh, many of us are using our bank accounts to sign up to subscription services. We’ve explored the latest subscription statistics to see how many Brits use these services.
Subscription service statistics: Highlights
The UK spends an estimated £20 billion a year on subscription services.
4 in 5 UK adults (79%) are signed up for at least one subscription service, around 42 million people.
The average Brit spends almost £500 a year, or £42 a month, on subscription services, including streaming.
Half of UK adults (49%) have an entertainment subscription, around 26 million people.
Brits spend more than £2 billion every year on subscription boxes.
More than a quarter of Brits (29%) are signed up to a subscription box delivery service, an estimated 15.4 million.
The UK subscription box market is set to be worth £1.8 billion by 2025.
The most popular subscription boxes in the UK are Graze, Birchbox, Hello Fresh, Glossybox and Gousto.
Netflix is the most popular video streaming service, with almost 17 million households subscribed.
Two-thirds of households (67%) had access to a subscription video service in 2023.
Spotify is the most popular music subscription service in the UK.
How popular are subscription services in the UK?
Research in 2023 found that four-fifths (79%) of people are signed up to at least one subscription service, which works out to be around 42 million UK adults.
However, nearly a quarter (23%) feel that their current service is too expensive and more than half (51%) would be willing to cut their subscription to save money during the cost of living crisis.
What is the average spend on and number of subscriptions?
The average Brit spends £500 a year on subscription services. Those with TV and film subscriptions, such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, spend up to £300 a year on these, while those with music streaming subscriptions, such as Spotify, spend up to £200 a year on these. The average subscriber in the UK is signed up for 4 separate monthly services.
What are the most popular subscription services in the UK?
The most popular type of subscription service in the UK is for entertainment and streaming platforms such as Spotify, Netflix and Amazon Prime, which half of UK adults (49%) regularly pay for, around 26 million people.
This is followed by product delivery services, also known as subscription boxes, which are regularly paid for by 29% of Brits, over 15 million people.
The subscription box market is booming, with an average spend of over £2 billion by Brits each year. This is not surprising when more than a quarter of Brits have signed up to a product delivery service. The subscription box market is expected to be worth £1.8 billion by 2025.
Charitable donations and newspapers and magazines were also popular, with an average of 16% of Brits opting for each of these subscription services.
What are the most popular subscription box services?
Food subscription boxes are the most popular category, with over half (53%) of people subscribed to delivery boxes opting for those related to food, including recipe kits. This is followed by beauty, with almost a third (31%) of subscribers choosing the boxes that deliver make-up, skincare and fragrance treats.
Book and magazine subscription boxes were the third most popular, with one-fifth (19%) of subscribers opting for these, followed by drinks (17%) and arts and crafts (13%). Just 1 in 10 (11%) decided that health and fitness subscription boxes were right for them.
The UK’s most popular subscription box company is Graze, as snacking reigns supreme. 2 other food-based subscription companies also make it onto the top 5 list – with meal subscription services Hello Fresh in third place and Gousto in fifth place.
Beauty box companies also see a lot of success, with Birchbox in second place and Glossybox in fourth place. The products include make-up, skincare and fragrances, and recipients get a selection each month.
What is the most popular TV and film streaming subscription service in the UK?
Netflix is the most popular streaming service in the UK, with almost 17 million households subscribed in 2023. This is closely followed by Amazon Prime, which has 12.9 million households paying for a regular subscription.
Disney+ is in third place with 7.14 million subscribers, an impressive feat considering it was only launched in 2020. NOW is the UK’s fourth most popular streaming service, with around 2.03 subscribed households, closely followed by Apple TV+, which has 1.91 million.
What is the most popular music subscription service in the UK?
Spotify is the most popular music subscription service in the UK, with over half (53%) of those who had paid to stream music doing so through the platform. Amazon Music is the second most popular choice, with more than two-fifths (43%) choosing it.
Apple Music was third most popular for paid music subscriptions among 29% of respondents, and YouTube Music wasn’t far behind with 27%.
Matthew Boyle is a banking and mortgages publisher at Finder. He has a 7-year history of publishing helpful guides to assist consumers in making better decisions. In his spare time, you will find him walking in the Norfolk countryside admiring the local wildlife. See full bio
Matthew's expertise
Matthew has written 244 Finder guides across topics including:
Helping first-time buyers apply for a mortgage
Comparing bank accounts and highlighting useful features
Sophie Barber is a content marketing manager for Finder in the UK after previously working as a content manager at a digital marketing agency. She has over 5 years experience in writing and publishing clear, concise and informative online articles for a variety of websites. See full bio
Sophie's expertise
Sophie has written 68 Finder guides across topics including:
Publishing original personal finance research
Creating data-led statistics pages to highlight industry trends
Digital-only banks are becoming increasingly popular so we look at the latest digital and online banking statistics in the UK.
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