Subscriber Churn Rate
Percentage of subscribers who cancel or do not renew in a period
What is Subscriber Churn Rate?
Subscriber churn rate is the percentage of subscribers a media service loses in a period. It shows how many people cancel and leave.
For subscription media, churn is a major driver of growth and profit, since replacing lost subscribers is expensive.
How this KPI is measured
- Function
- Customer Success & Service
- Sub-function
- Churn
- Industry
- Media & Entertainment
- Type
- Lagging
- Impact
- Risk
- Unit
- %
- Measurement frequency
- Monthly
- Formula
- (Subscribers lost / Subscribers at start of period) × 100
How to calculate it
Divide subscribers lost by subscribers at the start of the period, and multiply by 100.
For example, if a service started the month with 500,000 subscribers and lost 20,000, churn is 4%.
Measure monthly, and split voluntary from involuntary churn, such as failed payments. Look at churn by plan, tenure and acquisition source.
Where it is used
Protecting revenue
Keep the subscriber base.
Improving content and offers
Find why people leave.
Testing retention tactics
Measure the effect of offers.
How to improve it
Tips and common mistakes
- Involuntary churn from payment failure is often the easiest to fix.
- Look at churn by tenure, since new subscribers leave most.
- Some seasonal churn is normal.
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