What are the most popular subscription services in the UK?

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.

Quick overview

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.

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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.

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What are the most popular subscription box companies?

1. Graze
2. Birchbox
3. Hello Fresh
4. Glossybox
5. Gousto

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.

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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%.

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• Subscription statistics 2021

  Quick overview

  • Brits spend more than £2 billion every year on subscription services.
  • A recent survey suggests that over 60% of adults in Britain are subscribed to the Amazon Prime subscription service.
  • The average Brit spends £60 per year on subscription services.
  • The average price of a subscription box is £14.
  • The subscription box market is estimated to grow by 77% to be worth over £1 billion by 2022.
  • More than 1 in 4 Brits (27.4%) were subscribed to at least one subscription box service in 2018.
  • 23% of those aged 18 to 34 have a subscription box.

  What are the most popular subscription boxes?

  It’s predicted that Brits spend more than £2 billion every year on the overall subscription market, with over 60% of Brits subscribed to retail giant Amazon’s Prime service. We looked at the latest reports to see which subscription box services are the UK’s favourites.

  The most popular subscription boxes are those bringing us food, with 37% of all subscribers subscribing to some sort of food service. The second most popular type of box is those containing razors and shaving items, with 30% of all subscribers. On the other end of the spectrum, only 10% of subscribers see the benefit of getting contact lenses delivered to their door.

  Of those who do use a subscription box service, 45% said they subscribed because of the price, as many boxes offer high value for a lower price. 43% of subscribers like the convenience of having items delivered, and 43% say they subscribe as a treat for themselves.

  • Different kinds of subscription boxes
  • Table

  Subscription box	Percentage of subscribers
  Food	37%
  Razor & shaving	30%
  Perfume & cosmetics	26%
  Clothing	21%
  Contact lenses	10%

  What are the most popular subscription services?

  Amazon Prime is the most subscribed to service, but which other companies make the top 5 list?

  Healthy snack subscription service Graze comes in second place, with just over 1 in 10 (12.3%) of subscribers subscribed to this service. Next on the list are Nextunlimited (9.7%), Pact Coffee (8.5%) and beauty subscription service Glossybox (7.8%).

  • Subscription services
  • Table

  Subscription service	Percentage of subscribers
  Amazon Prime	61.4%
  Graze	12.3%
  Nextunlimited	9.7%
  Pact Coffee	8.5%
  Glossybox	7.8%

  Subscription boxes

  Subscription boxes are a great way to get your favourite goods delivered straight to your door whenever you want. Whether it’s food ingredients or a fresh new pair of socks, there’s a subscription box for almost everything! The latest stats from Royal Mail suggest that the subscription box market is expected to be worth over £1 billion in 2022 – a 77% increase from 2017 figures (£583 million).

  • 1 in 4 Brits (27.4%) are signed up to a subscription box in the UK.
  • Suscription boxes are most popular amongst 18- to 34-year-olds, with 1 in 4 (23%) signed up to at least one service.
  • 13% of 35- to 54-year-olds are subscribed to one of these services, but only 3% of those over 55 have a subscription box service.
  • Subscription boxes are more popular with males than females, with 30% of men subscribed to one compared to 24% of women.
  • It’s anticipated that male grooming subscriptions will see the biggest growth of any subscription category, reaching 2 million members by 2022.

  Subscription boxes for businesses

  With the demand for subscription boxes on the rise, how many companies are planning to jump on the bandwagon and introduce their own subscription box service?

  The latest report from the Post Office reveals that over half (58%) of businesses plan on investing in new or existing subscription boxes in the next year. Cited by 45% of businesses, the key motivation for introducing a subscription box service was driving greater brand loyalty.

  Reasons businesses start subscription services

  The top motivations cited for starting a subscription service were as follows:

  Reason	Percentage of businesses
  Drive greater brand loyalty	44.8%
  Desire for greater control (distribution)	34.5%
  Control of marketing and promotion	24.1%
  Lower startup costs	24.1%

  How does spending on convenience services differ across the UK?

  14% of Brits cough up £28 monthly for subscription boxes like Graze and Hello Fresh, while the same percentage of pet lovers spend £31 on pet services, such as walkers and groomers. Take a look at the map below to see how this differs by region.

  Percentage of population spending on convenience services in each region

  • Table summary

  Region	Uses food delivery	Has subscription boxes	Uses pet services	Uses handi-services	Uses car services
  East of England	23%	13%	10%	14%	9%
  East Midlands	28%	10%	16%	12%	12%
  London	44%	21%	21%	27%	33%
  North East	50%	20%	16%	20%	20%
  North West	35%	16%	13%	15%	21%
  Northern Ireland	31%	20%	20%	24%	20%
  Scotland	37%	15%	14%	14%	14%
  South East	27%	11%	13%	14%	14%
  South West	32%	11%	11%	12%	13%
  Wales	32%	14%	15%	16%	13%
  West Midlands	37%	18%	15%	17%	22%
  Yorshire and the Humber	35%	10%	11%	11%	21%

  Sources

  • Royal Mail Group
  • Mysubscriptionaddicion

Click here for more research. For all media enquiries, please contact:

Matt Mckenna
UK Communications Manager
T: +44 20 8191 8806