Digital Subscriptions: German Households Spend 62 Euros per Month

The average expenditure per household rose within a year from 55 to 62 euros per month. Almost one in five German households (19 percent) now pays even more than 100 euros for digital subscriptions – in the previous year it was still 15 percent. The number of subscriptions per household has remained constant, at an average of 2.3.

High Spending in Germany – France Lags Behind

In a European comparison, the French spend significantly less: There, households spend an average of 41 euros per month on digital offerings. The study authors attribute Germans' high willingness to spend to a "kleine, aber kaufkräftige Gruppe von Nutzerinnen und Nutzer", "die das Wachstum des Marktes maßgeblich" antreibe.

Content from influencers and content creators is playing a growing role: 28 percent of Germans already pay for content from influencers or content creators – an increase of five percentage points compared to the previous year. More than a quarter of respondents said they spend less time with other paid offerings because of such content. However, the strongest growth is recorded by the streaming service Twitch, whose paid subscriptions increased from five to eight percent.

Creator Content and Twitch See Strong Growth

In music streaming, Spotify leads the field – almost all subscribers listen several times a week, and about half even daily. Advertising is cited less frequently than in the previous year as a reason for cancellation on Spotify, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+. Overall, across all segments, about half of subscribers are willing to accept advertising in order to reduce the subscription price.

The situation is different for paid news: Only 14 percent of households still have a paid online news subscription at all. The respondents cited rising prices and insufficient quality as the most important reasons for cancellation. In Europe, for example, Meta already introduced paid versions of Facebook and Instagram in 2023, with no advertising – a model that has since been regarded as a benchmark in the market.

Willingness to Share Data and Accept Advertising Rises

29 percent of respondents in Germany already use bundle offers that combine multiple subscriptions. 71 percent of respondents in Germany would be willing to share personal data for AI applications if this improved digital payment offerings. 29 percent of Germans would even consent to the use of personal data without prior notification. About half of respondents would also be willing to accept advertising in return for cheaper subscription tiers.

The study authors see two trends in this: On the one hand, the bundling of different services in a common ecosystem is increasingly decisive for market success. On the other, transparency about data use increases the acceptance of AI applications. Despite new restrictions, the sharing of passwords between households remains widespread, decoupling the actual number of paying users from the official subscriber count.

The study thus provides a differentiated snapshot of the digital subscription market in three major European countries. While spending in Germany is rising significantly, demand for paid news is stagnating – and new offerings around creator content as well as AI-supported personalised services are gaining in importance.

"Das geht aus einer aktuellen Studie der Management- und Technologieberatung BearingPoint in Frankfurt hervor", the statement said. The Frankfurt-based consultancy surveyed a total of 7,500 people in the three countries in February 2026, including around 2,500 German households with at least one paid digital subscription.