One thing moving markets

…is the ongoing dominance of the subscription-based business model: Between 2013 and 2018, revenue for subscription businesses increased by more than 300% — around five times faster than revenues of S&P 500 companies.¹

In my subscription service era

Subscriptions are poised to keep gaining popularity in the coming years, thanks in part to young U.S. consumers. More than 30% of Gen Z and nearly 40% of millennials rely mainly on subscriptions for everyday needs, compared to less than 25% of Gen X and about 16% of Baby Boomers.²

Consumers have an average of four subscription services and spend about $237.33 a month on them — equivalent to about $2,850 a year.³

In June, 44% of Americans noted their streaming service payments rose in the past year.7 Empower research reveals that 73% of consumers say extra fees are being added to their overall purchases and 82% say their money doesn’t go as far as it used to.

Additionally, some consumers sign up for a free trial and forget to cancel when it’s over: More than half of survey respondents forget to hit cancel and for nearly 1 in 5 consumers, it happens more than twice a year.⁴

In vogue or in the rearview?

Not all subscriptions are performing equally. While digital subscription services continue to thrive, the subscription box market – a service where customers pay to receive a box of products on a regular basis – has tapered off from its peak. The downside of the novelty factor is that it tends to fade after a few months, leading some customers to cancel.⁵

In a 2024 survey, only 9% of consumers said they were currently paying for a subscription box service, compared to 60% who were paying for a streaming or video service.⁴

E-commerce subscriptions like Amazon Prime were the second most popular, with 37% of respondents enrolled, followed by music services like Spotify and Apple Music, with 35%.

But subscription box companies are adapting to these changing conditions with many offering an increasing range of niche subscription boxes.⁶

And a few top headlines

Free movies and TV? Sign me up.

• Free video streaming platform Tubi has staked a claim in the streaming subscription marketplace. Viewership time on the platform ranks ahead of major players.⁷

$8.2 billion for the City of Light.

• The recently concluded Paris Olympics cost $8.2 billion in total, not counting some infrastructure improvements, and resulted in 64 medals for the host country, fourth in total standings.⁸
  

Reality TV is on the decline since the Hollywood strike.

• In the second quarter of 2024, shooting days for reality TV shows were down more than 50% year-over-year, and about 50% down from the five-year average.⁹

Cooling inflation is making headlines — but it’s not all breezy.

• While inflation rates have been steady for items like food, not all categories have been affected equally. Since 2022, car insurance premiums have increased by almost 40%, while rent has increased by more than 10%.¹⁰

Want to buy a house in Silicon Valley?

• The median home price in Silicon Valley rose to more than $2 million — the first time in history that homes in the U.S. metro area have been that high.¹¹