The number of subscriptions to TV streaming services in Britain fell by two million during 2022 as the cost of living crisis hit households.

The total number of subscriptions to services such as Netflix in England, Wales and Scotland fell from 30.54 million in the final three months of 2021 to 28.46 million by the end of 2022, according to data from analytics company Kantar.

Along with the number of subscriptions declining, the number of people having at least one paid-for subscription fell from 17.12 million in the final three months of 2021 to 16.24 million by the final quarter of 2022.

Many people took out new subscriptions in the run up to Christmas last year but the figures show the pace slowed: 5% of households in Britain signed up to a new streaming subscription during the final quarter of the year, down from 6% a year earlier.

Sign ups to Prime Video, AppleTV+ and Paramount+ drove the rise.

The increase is likely to be short lived as one in every 10 consumers plans to cancel one or more subscriptions early this year, Kantar said.

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Inflation is stubbornly high and has remained in double digit figures since July.

Consumers have faced further pressure as the Bank of England’s efforts to reduce inflation – by increasing interest rates – have made the cost of borrowing more expensive.

Kantar also revealed the most popular streaming shows in December.

Netflix’s Addam’s family spin-off Wednesday was the most popular streaming title followed by another Netflix show, The Crown.

HBO show The White Lotus, streaming on Sky’s Now TV, came in third, followed by Star Wars spin-off Andor, on Disney+.

The Harry & Meghan documentary on Netflix was in fifth place.

In August last year, it was revealed that Disney+ had gained more subscriptions than Netflix for the first time.

Netflix subsequently announced a range of measures to attract 4.5 million subscribers by the end of last year and rolled out a cheaper £4.99 subscription offer with ads.

But shares in the streaming giant fell by more than 8% in December, wiping $11.5bn from its stock market value, on a report that its new advertising-funded service got off to a poor start.

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