Streaming service subscriptions

Between 2007 and 2022, streaming service subscriptions and US pet insurance policies both grew, correlating at 0.9633 across sixteen data points. The unified theory is that the modern household subscribes to everything: entertainment, pet health, meal kits, meditation apps, and whatever else the algorithm recommends. The streaming service and the pet insurance policy are both recurring charges on a credit card that the owner vaguely remembers signing up for and cannot quite bring themselves to cancel. Both benefit from the subscription economy's greatest innovation: inertia.

Streaming subscriptions grew from near-zero to over 1.5 billion globally, driven by Netflix, Disney+, and the cord-cutting trend. Pet insurance policies grew from roughly 500,000 to over 4.4 million, driven by rising vet costs and pet humanization. Both are subscription-model products that grew during the same 16-year window, driven by the broader shift from one-time purchases to recurring revenue models across every consumer category.

Two subscription products growing during the same era of subscription economy expansion will correlate. The streaming service and the pet insurance share a business model and a consumer base, not a causal relationship.