South Africa Is Suffering From Serious Subscription Fatigue

The world runs on subscriptions. That wasn’t always the case, but when the BMWs of the world figured out that customers would actually pay a separate, monthly fee for heated seats… everything changed. For the worse. Now, everything is a subscription, whether you like it or not – and it’s having an adverse effect on all South Africans.

Subscribe to unsubscribing

Subscription fees have slowly become a normal part of life, infecting even basic household items like printers. That’s not to mention the several streaming services, cloud storage solutions, and software fees that people regularly pay for monthly, often in conjunction. Only once you start to jot up every little subscription, accounting for their numerous price hikes over the years, does the situation start to seem more dire.

The severity depends on the level of income you’re earning, of course. According to data captured by Standard Bank, the average high-income individual spends “well over R1,000” per month on subscriptions. That’s a far cry from the R336/m and R482/m spent by entire low-income and middle-income households, respectively. For them, constantly rising fees are slowly eating more and more into their disposable incomes.

“We all deserve to spend a portion of our incomes on things that bring joy and comfort. But as incomes rise, so do expenses – often unconsciously,” says Standard Bank’s Doret Jooste. This ‘lifestyle inflation,’ including growing subscription costs, can shrink disposable income and delay emergency savings.”

“Subscription fatigue is real. Many add more subscriptions without regularly reviewing their needs.”

Read More: South Africa’s 2025 streaming habits revealed – Netflix tops the charts

Unsurprisingly, the majority of all these monthly fees involve streaming services and other entertainment, like Xbox Game Pass or PlayStation Plus. It’s closely followed by health and fitness, and then by software and digital services. High-income earners typically spend more on premium services such as fintech solutions.

Men over the age of forty are typically found to be the biggest spenders, though Standard Bank says their spouses can just as easily spend R1,000 or more per month on subscriptions, often committing to more long-term ‘premium services’ than other incomes. This spending tends to increase with age, though there’s a significant drop-off in subscription expenditure beyond the age of sixty.

It’s a pit that’s only going to deepen over time as companies figure out more inventive ways of charging that credit card every month. But it can be fixed – or at least, controlled. Standard Bank suggest regular assessments of your subscriptions, ditching those that do not spark joy and hunting down the best bundle deals for services you regularly use. More drastic measures involve speaking with a financial adviser, though this may defeat the point: saving money.