Survey: 73% of Canadians Trapped by Recurring Subscriptions

MONTREAL, March 5, 2024 /CNW/ - Hardbacon, a personal finance application, today unveils the results of a new survey on recurring subscriptions in Canada. These results reveal how Canadians struggle to manage these recurring expenses that accumulate over time and include a ranking of the 50 most popular subscriptions in Canada.

Canadians Have Too Many Subscriptions

According to the survey, 73% of Canadians admit to having subscribed to a service to take advantage of a free trial period or a promotional price with the intention of unsubscribing, but forgot to do so in time. No less than 66% of Canadians admit to having paid for a subscription they had forgotten they had.

The survey also reveals that the average Canadian has 8 recurring subscriptions, despite thinking they only have 4. This difference was measured by asking respondents to estimate how many recurring subscriptions they had at the beginning of the survey, after which they were invited to select the paid subscriptions they had in different categories. "This result shows how pernicious recurring subscriptions are from a budgetary standpoint, as few people know how many subscriptions they have or how much all these subscriptions cost them annually," comments Julien Brault, CEO of Hardbacon.

Even when they attempt to unsubscribe, many Canadians face another obstacle: the difficulty of unsubscribing. No less than 55% of Canadians have already postponed the task of unsubscribing because the process is too difficult, which often involves making a phone call even though the initial subscription was made online.

Although a large part of Canadians (47%) use credit cards to pay for these subscriptions, a substantial proportion of them prefer to use Visa or Mastercard debit cards (27%), PayPal (11%), and prepaid cards (4%), notably to avoid getting into debt or to be able to unsubscribe more easily.

The Most Popular Subscriptions in Canada

The list of the most popular subscriptions in Canada is unsurprisingly dominated by Amazon Prime and Netflix. However, there are some surprises, including the popularity of platforms that allow creators to generate subscription revenue like Patreon,  Twitch and OnlyFans. It was also interesting to see the popularity of Canadian products like CAA, Crave, CBC Gem Premium, and PC Optimum Insiders. Here are the 50 most popular recurring subscriptions in Canada:

1. Amazon Prime
2. Netflix
3. Costco Membership
4. Disney+
5. Spotify Premium
6. CAA Roadside Assistance
7. Crave
8. YouTube Premium
9. Apple TV+
10. Nintendo Switch Online
11. Google One
12. Xbox Game Pass
13. Paramount+
14. Apple Music
15. Gem Premium / Tou.tv Extra
16. Amazon Music
17. iCloud+
18. PlayStation Plus
19. PC Optimum Insiders
20. SiriusXM
21. DashPass
22. NordVPN
23. Uber One
24. Patreon
25. Audible
26. BritBox
27. ChatGPT Plus
28. Crunchyroll
29. New York Times
30. Private Internet Access VPN
31. OnlyFans
32. YouTube Music
33. HelloFresh
34. Instacart+
35. SurfShark VPN
36. 1Password
37. Discovery+
38. Triangle Select
39. STARZ
40. LastPass
41. Duolingo Plus
42. Club Illico
43. Sportsnet Now
44. Chefs Plate
45. Communauto
46. Twitch Channel
47. Curiosity Stream
48. Stack TV
49. Dropout
50. Linkedin Premium

This online survey, conducted by Hardbacon from February 2 to February 13, 2024, gathered responses from 516 Canadians aged 18 and over. To learn more or to access the full list of the most popular subscriptions, consult the survey results on Hardbacon.ca.

About Hardbacon

Founded in 2017, Hardbacon helps over four million Canadians per year make better financial decisions, whether through its budgeting app, its comparison tools, its financial calculators or its many guides on personal finance.

SOURCE Hardbacon

Fatima Zohra, [email protected], [phone]