Tracking Active Subscriptions With Passive Data
Modelling user behaviour from Gener8’s passive datasets enables a validated understanding of people’s active subscriptions
People’s preferences are constantly evolving, making it difficult to rely on a single ‘moment in time’ survey to capture an accurate picture of active subscriptions.
These snapshots can become outdated surprisingly quickly. In fact, it’s increasingly common for individuals to cancel one streaming service—such as Netflix—in favour of subscribing to another, like Amazon Prime, every couple of months. These shifts are frequently influenced by factors such as the availability of desirable content, the perceived value of the service, or changing cost considerations.
As consumer behaviour becomes more dynamic, tracking these trends requires a more agile and ongoing approach… and at Gener8 we have built the solution.
Learn who is actively subscribed to a service
At Gener8, our passive data modelling rules run on a daily basis, allowing us to identify and concentrate our analysis on individuals who exhibit a strong signal of ongoing subscription activity—what we refer to as Active Subscriptions. This consistent, high-frequency approach ensures that we stay closely attuned to user behaviours as they evolve in real time.
For example, using our model of active Netflix subscribers, we observed that the February price increase did not trigger a significant spike in user subscriber churn within the UK. The proportion of 60-day inactive users (those we classified as churned) was only 8% above the typical average over the last year.
This insight could have proved valuable to financial clients seeking to anticipate market reactions. Supporting our data, Netflix’s Q1 shareholder report confirmed the trend, with management noting no abrupt rise in cancellations following the price adjustment. Chief Financial Officer Spence Neumann described subscriber retention patterns as “strong” and “stable,” adding that there were “no meaningful changes to our retention story” in response to the pricing changes.
By implementing the inferred user scoring process across our user base, we are also able to:
- Enrich audience profiles and pen portraits. By analysing the active subscriptions in your target audience segment, we can provide deeper insights into who they are and how they behave.
- Identify the right respondents to survey, fast. By categorising users by their passive behaviours we are able to find the right user segments quickly, even if they haven’t provided a survey answer to a question on that interest/ behaviour in the past.
- Validate survey respondent answers. Combining passive data scoring alongside declared survey responses, we can identify the delta between what people say they do vs. what they actually do.
How do we infer active subscriptions through passive data modelling?
At Gener8 we sit on a vast array of data feeds, including:
- Consumer Browsing, which enables us to understand the search terms made and the websites visited by the user
- Purchase Intelligence, which allows us to understand which brands and items the user has purchased for hundreds of merchants
- App Usage, which helps us to see the apps that were used by the user
By analysing each data feed with a pre-built intent trigger model for Netflix, we can start to identify the users who have an active Netflix subscription. See how we achieve this in detail in our previous article.
When developing passive data modelling-based classification for our users we combine the search intent signals with those of web browsing activity, purchases and app usage. What's more we score the user activity for each data source based on behaviour frequency and depth (e.g. action and/ or purchase intent search terms) to extend our confidence.
This process has recently enabled us to further expand the Gener8 Audience Segmentation Framework with Active Subscriptions.
New Active Subscription behavioural columns include:
- Gym Membership
- Streaming Services
- Netflix
- Amazon Prime Video
- Disney+
- Apple TV+
- YouTube Premium
- GenAI Services
- ChatGPT
- Gemini Advanced
- Claude
- Game Services
- Playstation Plus
- Xbox Pass
We're rapidly deepening our understanding of users, enabling us to deliver even greater value to our clients.
How can I access this data?
We utilised Gener8's Psychographics to uncover insights from those with a Netflix subscription.
Gener8 Labs’ complete data and insights solution empowers media and marketing businesses to find actionable consumer and market insights, using our unique, consented, first party panel data sets that are all connected around one user ID.
Discover how you can power your decisions and gain a competitive edge from our behavioural truth set by contacting us today!
