Ghost subscriptions

Whilst flipping channels on TV, I landed on some tech show where the presenter was walking the streets, asking random people in the US somewhere how many subscriptions they had. The idea was to demonstrate to the interviewee that they in fact had some forgotten subscriptions that they were still paying for.

The presenter might have been lucky because everyone they stopped and asked had at least one which they found on their phone that they had forgotten to cancel. When put to them, there was the surprised response, usually in the form of “whaaaa!”. Almost apologetically, they said that they would be cancelling it straight away as they no longer needed it.

Is this an American-only problem, I wondered? I am just across the Atlantic, and I literally have one subscription which I “need”. I subscribe only to Amazon Prime and it’s definitely not for Prime Video. I honestly cannot remember when I last scrolled through the videos, and the kids are the same. They tend to just watch YouTube for Fortnight videos, no subscription required there either.

With Amazon, I subscribe to it because I find it convenient for the delivery of items which are hard to find elsewhere at the same reasonable price. Don’t get me wrong; Amazon has become ridiculously expensive in the UK now. Between Brexit and Russia invading Ukraine, the prices on most items have risen astronomically. There are, however, still bargains to be found on there if you know where to look. And that, I feel, justifies my one subscription.

So, how does one accumulate ghost subscriptions, as the presenter called them? Spotify, Netflix, Apple TV, Sky TV, Hulu, Disney+, X, Hello Fresh, YouTube, Microsoft 365, Peloton, Substack, to name but a few. Does one person — or even one household — really need to have all these? Are people working their 9-5 to earn money just to pay for their subscriptions?

It is true; the disposable income in the US is generally higher per capita than elsewhere. But still. To me, this sounds like an addiction to subscription. Or FOMO.

Why subscribe to Spotify when there are millions of Internet radio stations, many broadcasting without a single ad? I sort of get it if someone is a movie lover and they subscribe to Netflix, for example. I had a subscription once but it ended up not being used much so was cancelled and I still don’t regret it. When I eventually do (unlikely) I can simply sign back up.

It’s a strange phenomenon, wanting to subscribe to everything. Like collectors, stockpiling all the shiny things which you eventually end up not using, and then forgetting that you even have a subscription.