Analysis from Digital i looking at ‘light-viewer’ behaviour across Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video and HBO Max in the US and Europe shows that ‘low-friction’ content, including known franchises, family and animated titles, and major movie releases, serve as vital ” for infrequent viewers at high risk of churn.

Light viewers – those who use streaming services infrequently and with low intent – are the most at-risk segment for churn. Digital i defines them as the bottom third of measured accounts as ranked by total viewing time (48 mins per day or less on Netflix; 18 mins per day or less on HBO Max; 12 mins per day or less on Prime Video; 11 mins per day or less on Disney+, during the measured period).

Digital i ranked titles viewed on these four streaming services in the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Poland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden and the US during 2025 by the highest percentage of light viewers among the total reach. The results revealed a consistent pattern: known franchises, movies and other low-friction entertainment disproportionately serve this audience across platforms.

Movie magic

On Disney+, titles such as Hocus Pocus 2 (35.5 per cent of 3 million views to this film in 2025 were from light viewers), Hamilton (33.4 per cent of its 3.1 million viewers) and Marvel superhero movie Deadpool & Wolverine (32 per cent of its 3.1 million total reach) ranked among the strongest performers with light viewers last year. This was despite not delivering the platform’s highest overall reach, demonstrating how blockbuster IP can act as a churn safety net.

A similar trend was evident on Prime Video, where the films Wicked: Part I (24.2 per cent of 6.4 million), Conclave (21.2 per cent of 9.5 million) and The Super Mario Bros Movie (20.1 per cent of 7.3 million), and the light-entertainment show Last One Laughing UK (20.8 per cent of 5.5 million), all ranked highly among light viewers, suggesting a stabilising role in subscriber retention.

While Amazon bundling Prime Video with its Prime retail service provides unique churn reduction benefits, Digital i data shows that high-intent, familiar IP is still required to move passive subscribers into active, engaged viewers. It also explains the typically lower density of light viewers on the service.

The reach vs retention gap was most visible on HBO Max. While critically acclaimed prestige hits like The Last of Us reached a significant 19.2 million viewers, only 21.4 per cent of that audience were light viewers. In contrast, the animated film Flow reached a smaller audience of 3.9 million but captured a far higher density of churn-risk users at 35 per cent.

Live sports as subscription driver

Meanwhile, Netflix’s NFL Christmas Gameday events demonstrated the power of live sports to attract infrequent users at scale, with the two games reaching a combined total of over 33 million viewers, of which roughly 30 per cent were light viewers.

This one-off spike provides a perfect hand-off to returning franchise dramas like Wednesday (23.3 per cent light viewers) and Squid Game (23.1 per cent), which maintain engagement across their massive 68.7 million and 59.5 million respective reach. This also points to another trend – live sport acting as a subscription driver, bringing in light viewers, who must then be captured by franchise content to prevent churn.

“The content that prevents churn is not always the content that dominates headlines or breaks overall reach records,” commented Digital i analyst Elena Mozzato. “Our 2025 analysis shows a clear ‘reach vs retention’ gap. While critically acclaimed hits like The Last of Us draw massive audiences, it is the ‘low-friction’ titles – the familiar franchises and theatrical blockbusters – that disproportionately capture light viewers. These titles act as subscription stabilisers; by reducing decision friction for infrequent users, they provide a consistent reason to stay subscribed between major prestige releases.”

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Categories: Articles, Consumer Behaviour, Content, Premium, Research, VOD

Tags: digital i, hocus pocus 2, netflix, Prime Video, svod, wednesday