Subscriber Churn

Topic

The rate at which customers cancel their subscriptions. This is identified as the major problem for the streaming industry, with some services seeing monthly churn rates as high as 12%, forcing them to constantly reacquire their entire user base.


First Mentioned

1/5/2026, 5:14:00 AM

Last Updated

1/5/2026, 5:16:33 AM

Research Retrieved

1/5/2026, 5:16:33 AM

Summary

Subscriber churn, also known as attrition rate, is a critical business metric measuring the proportion of individuals or items leaving a group over a specific period. It is particularly vital for subscription-based models such as mobile networks, pay TV, and streaming services like Peacock and Disney+. Churn directly impacts a company's steady-state customer level and is a key input for modeling Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) and marketing investment returns. The term originates from the imagery of a butter churn's agitation. In the modern digital economy, companies like Netflix attempt to mitigate churn through content moats and exclusive events like NFL games, while others utilize bundling strategies. The metric is often categorized into voluntary churn, where a customer actively cancels, and involuntary churn, typically caused by payment failures or fraud.

Referenced in 1 Document
Research Data
Extracted Attributes
  • Types of Churn

    Active (voluntary cancellation), Passive (involuntary/payment failure), Gross churn

  • Alternative Names

    Attrition rate, turnover, customer turnover, customer defection

  • Churn Rate Formula

    (Number of customers lost / total number of customers at start of period) x 100

  • Key Financial Impact

    Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) erosion

  • SaaS Annual Benchmark

    5% to 7% (average acceptable rate)

  • Customer Lifetime Formula

    1 / Churn rate

Timeline
  • The All-In Podcast hosts discuss the 'broken economics' of the streaming industry and the significant problem of subscriber churn during the World Economic Forum in Davos. (Source: fb009ead-fe3d-4f58-bfc8-0a9d2c19cec9)

    2024-01-15

Churn rate

Churn rate (also known as attrition rate, turnover, customer turnover, or customer defection) is a measure of the proportion of individuals or items moving out of a group over a specific period. It is one of two primary factors that determine the steady-state level of customers a business will support. Churn is widely applied in business for contractual customer bases. Examples include a subscriber-based service model as used by mobile telephone networks and pay TV operators. Churn rate can also be the input into customer lifetime value modeling and used to measure return on marketing investment with marketing mix modeling. The term comes from the image of agitation of cream in a butter churn.

Web Search Results
  • Subscriber Churn: How to Reduce and Retain Customers - Zuora

    ### Table of Contents Glossary Hub / Subscriber Churn: How to Reduce and Retain Customers # Subscriber Churn: How to Reduce and Retain Customers A busy urban street crowded with pedestrians. ## What is subscriber churn and how does it impact my business? Subscriber churn represents the rate at which subscribers cancel or stop using a service, and it can have profound implications for a company’s financial health. [...] There’s an inverse relationship between customer lifetime value and churn rate. What this means is—as one increases, the other decreases. For example, a high churn rate would translate to a low customer lifetime value. Customer lifetime = (1 ÷ Churn rate) What is subscriber churn? Subscriber churn refers to the rate at which subscribers cancel or refuse to renew their subscriptions. What is the benchmark for subscription churn rate? [...] Customer churn measures how many customers cancel their subscriptions in a given time period, independent of how much revenue you’re earning from them. This metric is comparable to your retention rate metric, which is simply a different way to express your churn calculation. churn rate formula: (number of customers lost ÷ total number of customers at the start of the time period) × 100.

  • Subscription churn 101: What businesses need to know - Stripe

    What’s in this article? What is churn? Why churn matters for subscription businesses Types of churn How to calculate churn Ways to reduce subscription churn ## What is churn? In the context of subscription businesses, churn refers to the rate at which customers or subscribers discontinue their subscription within a given time frame. It quantifies the percentage of subscribers who stop using a service relative to the overall customer base. [...] Subscription churn can be a major problem for businesses. Churn directly impacts a business’s recurring revenue, threatening financial stability for those that don’t address it head-on. As more businesses adopt subscription models, addressing churn becomes more complex, with competition raising the stakes around customer retention. In this article, we’ll explore subscription churn in depth, giving you the insights your business needs to fight this challenge and maintain a competitive edge. [...] Active churn Active churn refers to customers who intentionally and proactively cancel their subscription. They might call customer service, send an email, or click an “unsubscribe” button. Passive churn This happens when a subscription ends not because the customer actively chose to cancel, but because they failed to renew or update payment details. It’s often linked with involuntary churn, but it can occur when a customer simply forgets or overlooks renewal. Gross churn

  • What Is Subscription Churn & How to Reduce it? | IR

    Because of the drastic impact on monthly recurring revenue, customer churn is a metric that subscription businesses need to monitor very closely. Even the smallest changes in a business's churn rate can significantly affect revenue growth as well as the overall health of the business. Customer churn can seriously erode all the hard work and resources spent on gaining new subscription customers and retaining them. [...] Every business is different, but exerts say that the average acceptable annual churn rate for a subscription business such as a SaaS business is 5-7%. This means not losing over 140 customers (7%) out of 2000. While some amount of churn is unavoidable, it’s important to know the point at which your churn rate enters a dangerous range. [...] 1. The number of customers at the start of the year = 2000 2. The number of customer lost during the year = 250 To calculate churn rate: (250/2000) x 100% = 12,5% Annual churn rate is 12,5%. Monthly churn rate is 1% ## Voluntary and involuntary churn Subscriber churn is defined as voluntary churn - or when a customer actively decides to initiate the exit. This could be due to:

  • What is customer churn? | IBM

    It is an especially important metric for software-as-a-service (SaaS) businesses, many of which depend on monthly recurring revenues from subscriptions. They need to know whether customers are churning—or might be churning in the future—as that will have an immediate impact on their bottom line. [...] Companies can and should also calculate revenue churn rates, which determine lost monthly recurring revenue (MRR) from existing customers over a determined time period. MRR = Number of subscribers x average revenue per subscriber (ARPU) Example: That same company that charges its 75,000 subscribers USD 15.00 a month for services has an MRR of USD 1,125,000. ### Revenue churn rate This determines how much revenue is churning out of a company during a specific time period. [...] First, B2C customers do not need to get approval from a boss to start or finish a subscription, so they are more likely to impulse buy and impulse quit. Second, subscriptions are also likely to be cheaper, which means it’s easier to leave one service and start another. On the other hand, B2B churn is often more impactful for those businesses.

  • Customer Churn Prevention: 3 Best Practices to Retain Customers

    Voluntary: This occurs when the customer initiates termination of the service contract. Most brands find that the major stated reasons that churn occurs is a result of price, quality, customer service, or image. Involuntary: This occurs when people are churned for fraud, non-payment, and under-utilization. The best way to manage this type of churn is to determine who is likely to be fraudulent or create credit problems and prevent them from subscribing in the first place.