Analysts Kantar said the number of paid-for video streaming subscriptions in the UK fell by two million, from 30.5 million to 28.5 million.

Demand had picked up again at Christmas, Kantar said, but people were “quickly looking to cut back again”.

Inflation, the rate at which prices rise, is at its highest level for about 40 years, hitting people’s finances.

“Brits’ love of streaming remains as strong as ever, but the effect of high inflation meant consumers were forced to make difficult choices to balance their finances,” said Dominic Sunnebo, Kantar’s global director of entertainment on demand.

“That financial pressure increasingly meant cutting back on video streaming subscriptions, particularly where households often had three or more different services in the same household.”

Kantar said the UK streaming market returned to growth in the last three months of the year, with new subscriptions up by 300,000 compared with the previous quarter.

It said that Prime Video, AppleTV+ and Paramount+ had driven the gains.

But Kantar said it reflected “short-term” demand in the run-up to Christmas, and more than one in 10 consumers planned to cancel one or more subscriptions in the first three months of this year.