"Gen Z is unsubscribing: A study has found that more than half of the younger age demographic cancels and renews streaming subscriptions based on the availability of one TV series or film, and nearly a third won’t pay full price for a game and would rather sample via a gaming platform subscription.

According to the newly released “Generations In Play: 2026 Audience Insights Report,” which was published by Dentsu and IGN Entertainment, 59% of Gen Z users surveyed actively subscribe and unsubscribe to streamers to “chase a single title.” The report asserts this means “platform loyalty is effectively dead.

Additionally, the data finds 62% of Gen Z won’t pay full price for video games, 71% have stopped buying physical music, and 70% no longer by hard copies of TV shows and movies.

A bright spot in the study says Gen Z is the most theatrical generation with 13% more likely to attend opening weekend than older movie-goers.

The findings come from a study that was independently conducted by Kantar and UC Berkeley and included a survey of 6,250 “highly-engaged entertainment consumers” across the US, UK and Australia.

“Generations in Play 2026 was built on independent research conducted with Kantar and UC Berkeley, then synthesized through IGN Entertainment’s first-party behavioral platform, IMAGINE,” IGN Entertainment senior vice president of marketing and head of Imagine AI, Karl Stewart, said. “That combination is what makes it a behavioral map rather than just another trend report. For thirty years, IGN Entertainment has watched Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z form their media habits inside our ecosystem. What this research confirms is that each generation is running on a fundamentally different operating system, and that the brands working with Dentsu now have a clearer view of how to reach each one on its own terms.”

See below for a copy of the full report, followe dby Variety‘s Q&A with Dentsu’s global head of gaming, Brent Koning, which goes into more detail about the findings in the “Generations In Play: 2026 Audience Insights Report.”

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[–] Flatfire@lemmy.ca 2 points 6 days ago

That's not really the statistic's framing here. It's not 62% of all Gen Z, it's 62% of Gen Z who play games, indicating they won't pay full price for a game. I'd like to see more statistics here too, like what platforms, what people consider reasonable pricing and whether they see value in subscription gaming services like PS+ or Xbox Live/Gamepass