Because canceling something online can be so easy, you tend to see higher cancellation rates across the streaming TV industry, said Glenn Hower, a senior analyst at the market research firm Parks Associates. Although just 1 percent of cancellations are by viewers discontinuing a free trial, many people appear to be spending a matter of months on a streaming service before switching.

“The churn numbers tend to be pretty high, indicating there are a substantial number of consumers subscribing to a service for a short time and then bailing out,” Hower said. Studies by Parks Associates have found that, on average, streaming services manage to hang on to customers for little more than a year. Netflix enjoys more staying power than most, retaining customers for an average length of 3.5 years, according to Hower.

From the article "Meet the sometime-streamer: TV watchers who sign up for one show — then cancel" by Brian Fung.

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