2025 was a year marked by challenges and global uncertainty, but also a year in which the subscription market matured, and companies learned how to create real value for their customers. Consumers became more demanding, but this has also given subscription businesses a clear signal of what truly makes a difference: Relevance, flexibility, and strong customer relationships.
In 2026, opportunities lie ahead. The subscription economy is entering a new phase where relevance outweighs volume, retention beats pure acquisition, and AI becomes an active part of business strategy. Companies that dare to innovate and adapt quickly can create more value than ever before, while delivering real value to customers in a world that remains unpredictable yet full of possibilities.
In this article, 17 leading experts across industries share their perspectives on the trends, competitive advantages, and strategic choices that will shape the subscription landscape in 2026. Their insights offer a nuanced perspective on navigating an unpredictable world while simultaneously driving growth, loyalty, and fostering stronger customer relationships.
The trend experts:
- Morten Suhr Hansen, Subscrybe
- Louise Byg Kongsholm, PEJ Gruppen – Scandinavian Trend Institute
- Rasmus Houlind, Agillic
- Signe Skarequist, Dansk Erhverv
System and billing experts:
Tech and AI experts:
Media experts:
- Maria Dabelsteen Jensen, Aller Media
- Lars Gudbrandsson, Ritzau
- Tav Klitgaard, Zetland
- Charlotte Hoffmeyer, Politiken
Retail expert:
Streaming experts:
Trend experts from Subscrybe, Pej gruppen – Scandinavian Trend Institute, Agillic, and the Danish Chamber of Commerce
In your opinion, what will be the most important competitive factor for subscription businesses in 2026 – and why?
If I had to point to one decisive competitive factor in 2026, it would be relevant and lasting value – documented over time. Subscription is no longer just a way to pay. It is a promise of continuous value. As consumers and businesses have taken out significantly more subscriptions, the tolerance threshold for “nice-to-have” has fallen dramatically. In 2026, the companies that will win are those that can prove they are worth keeping – month after month. It is not about low prices, but about high perceived value, clear differentiation, and the ability to make the subscription indispensable in the customer’s everyday life or business.
How do you see AI impacting subscription businesses in 2026, and where will the technology create the greatest value?
In 2026, AI will no longer be an experiment, but a fundamental part of the subscription engine. The greatest value is created where AI is directly connected to behaviour, data, and decision-making – not only in front-end personalisation, but across the entire value chain. We see particularly strong impact in three areas:
- Personalised value delivery. AI makes it possible to deliver different value to different customers – without letting complexity spiral out of control.
- Retention and churn prevention. Predictive churn models become more precise and action-oriented. It is no longer just about predicting churn, but about automatically triggering the right actions.
- Commercial intelligence. AI enables better pricing, bundling, and upselling based on actual usage, PER (Potential Expansion Revenue), and willingness to pay.
In short, AI shifts the focus from reporting to action – and that is where real value is created.
Which trends and tendencies do you expect will shape the subscription landscape in 2026?
Several clear trends will shape the subscription landscape in 2026.
- From growth at any cost to profitable retention: The focus shifts from pure acquisition to lifetime value and profitability.
- Modularity and flexibility: Customers expect choice – add-ons, usage-based elements, and clear upgrade paths.
- Bundles and partnerships: Especially in media, retail, and services, we see more strategic bundles where one plus one equals three.
- Subscription as a relationship, not a contract: Engagement, community, and perceived fairness become critical success factors.
What do you see as the biggest challenge for subscription businesses in 2026?
The biggest challenge, in my view, is complexity. Over recent years, many subscription businesses have added layer upon layer: products, pricing models, campaigns, systems, and channels. In 2026, the ability to simplify becomes a competitive advantage. Companies that do not have a clear value proposition, a strong understanding of their core customer segments, and clarity on their key value drivers will struggle – regardless of how much AI they implement. Technology amplifies both strengths and weaknesses.
How should subscription businesses in 2026 work to strengthen acquisition, engagement, and retention – and where do you expect the greatest impact to be created?
In 2026, subscription businesses must work far more holistically across the entire customer journey. The greatest impact is created when companies stop optimising silos and instead design coherent value loops.
- Acquisition: Less focus on volume, more on quality. Use data to attract customers with strong fit and high expansion potential.
- Engagement: Active onboarding and continuous nudging are critical. Customers must quickly experience the “aha moment” – followed by repeated proof of value.
- Retention: Retention is not built through discounts, but through relevance. Use AI and data to be proactive, not reactive.
The companies that succeed best in 2026 are those that view subscriptions as a connected system – where strategy, technology, organisation, and customer experience reinforce one another. To summarise: 2026 will be the year when the strongest subscription businesses truly stand out. Not by size or tech stack – but by their ability to consistently deliver meaningful value, again and again.
In your opinion, what will be the most important competitive factor for subscription businesses in 2026 – and why?
The most important competitive parameter will be perceived relevance over time. Not price. Not features. But whether the customer can repeatedly answer “yes” to the question: “Does this still make sense for me?”.
The subscription market is mature, and many consumers already have more subscriptions than they actively use. As a result, the battle is no longer about getting customers in – it is about being chosen, again, every single month. The companies that truly understand their customers’ life situations, usage patterns, and evolving needs, and continuously adjust their offering accordingly, will be the strongest.
Relevance is created through flexibility, clear value, and the feeling that the subscription works for the customer – not the other way around.
How do you see AI impacting subscription businesses in 2026, and where will the technology create the greatest value?
AI becomes truly valuable where it prevents cancellation before the customer has even decided to churn.
In 2026, AI will create the greatest value in areas such as:
- churn prediction
- personalization of content, products, and communication
- timing of offers and adjustments to the subscription
AI makes it possible to respond to behaviour in real time: declining usage, changing habits, or early signs of frustration. This enables companies to offer adjustments, pauses, or alternatives before the customer clicks “cancel”.
The biggest gain is not efficiency, but a deeper understanding of human behaviour. AI becomes a tool for listening better – not just for selling more.
Which trends and tendencies do you expect will shape the subscription landscape in 2026?
Three trends will become particularly clear:
1. More flexible subscriptions
Consumers want to scale up and down, pause, and customise. Fixed packages lose relevance.
2. Subscriptions as relationships – not contracts
Successful subscriptions are built on relationships, community, and trust. Community, access, and exclusive knowledge become more important than volume.
3. Less noise, more meaning
Consumers become more deliberate. They choose fewer subscriptions but expect higher quality, clearer communication, and honest value.
The subscription model is shifting from mass to meaning.
What do you see as the biggest challenge for subscription businesses in 2026?
The biggest challenge will be subscription fatigue combined with declining loyalty.
Consumers cancel faster, think more critically, and no longer accept subscriptions that are hard to understand or hard to leave. If the value is not clear, the subscription is gone.
Companies that still rely on friction, lack of transparency, or “lock-in” will lose trust. The challenge is therefore to create subscriptions that customers actively choose – rather than feel trapped in.
That requires the courage to make things simpler, more honest, and more human.
In your opinion, what will be the most important competitive factor for subscription businesses in 2026 – and why?
In 2026, the most important competitive factor for subscription businesses will be their ability to create perceived value – not just promised value.
Consumer trust remains fragile, even though many people have money to spend. As a result, products and services are evaluated much more critically on whether they truly feel like need-to-have offerings.
This requires three things:
- A value proposition that truly resonates with the individual customer.
- Personalized activation and nudging, ensuring subscribers actually use what they are paying for.
- Continuous documentation of value – clearly showing subscribers what they have gained from the service.
The companies that can translate data into personalized Moments of Truth and keep usage high will be the ones that retain customers and win the market.
How do you see AI impacting subscription businesses in 2026, and where will the technology create the greatest value?
In 2026, AI will have the greatest impact on subscription businesses through smarter content production and stronger decision support.
First, AI will streamline and scale the production of content itself, enabling services to deliver more relevant material without increasing costs.
Second, AI will make it possible to analyse qualitative data at scale – feedback, open-text responses, and support conversations – and turn these insights into better segmentation, clearer Moments of Truth, and more effective messaging.
The greatest value will be created when AI increases product usage and reduces churn through more precise and personalized activation.
Which trends and tendencies do you expect will shape the subscription landscape in 2026?
AI is, unsurprisingly, a defining trend shaping the subscription landscape – just as it is across all industries. This applies both to the production of the offering itself (particularly where the product is content) and to marketing, engagement, and ultimately retention.
In addition, macroeconomic factors including the development in interest rates and consumer confidence will continue to play a major role. These dynamics are closely linked to geopolitical developments involving the US, Russia, Ukraine, China, etc. Even if Danish consumers, on paper, have more money available, the key question remains: are they willing to spend it? And where will the line between nice-to-have and need-to-have be drawn?
What do you see as the biggest challenge for subscription businesses in 2026?
Creating real perceived value for subscribers – because every single subscription remains under close scrutiny. Perhaps things will loosen up and money will flow a little more freely again – and then companies must be ready to press the growth button.
In your opinion, what will be the most important competitive factor for subscription businesses in 2026 – and why?
Definitely, relevance. As Danes take out more and more subscriptions, As Danish consumers take on more and more subscriptions, expectations around relevance continue to rise, while patience in relation to being able to easily cancel, sign up, or adjust a subscription is low. The flexibility of subscription management and customization should therefore be seen by subscription companies as a hygiene factor rather than, as in the past, a USP. My expectation is that what truly matters to subscribers in 2026 will not be features, as those are already expected to function at a high level, but rather relevance in the sense that the subscription continuously adapts to individual needs, behaviour, and life situation. In this context, companies that can demonstrate clear and continuous value and quickly adjust when customer usage changes will be the winners.
How do you see AI impacting subscription businesses in 2026, and where will the technology create the greatest value?
I am convinced that in 2026, AI will increasingly become a foundational part of most subscription businesses by acting as the engine that connects data, customer insight, and real-time action. Used correctly, AI can move subscription businesses from being reactive to becoming predictive. The greatest value from AI will most likely be created within personalisation, churn prevention, and customer dialogue.
We already see many subscription businesses succeeding with AI implementations that allow them to continuously tailor content, offers, and communication to individual customer needs and behaviour. However, I am certain there is even more value to be unlocked by using AI to identify early signs of declining engagement before the customer themselves considers cancelling.
At the same time, AI-based dialogues can be refined to automate larger parts of customer service and make it more relevant and accessible. Unfortunately, I still too often experience “stupid chatbots” that are simply not prompted well enough, resulting in poor AI-based service. Recently, I personally found myself “arguing with a chatbot” from one of the larger Danish streaming platforms, which insisted that the time was 11:33 p.m. and that its human colleagues had gone home – even though it was actually 8:45 a.m., well within normal working hours.
It genuinely surprises me that this still happens, because with the rapid development of technology, there are many low-hanging fruits to be harvested. That said, it requires subscription businesses to have the right competencies in place to ensure ongoing maintenance, focus, and development of AI usage. One might fear that some companies, in the rush to gain efficiency through AI, have forgotten to invest sufficiently in these capabilities – leaving customers exposed to frustrating solutions, which is dangerous for customer loyalty.
Which trends and tendencies do you expect will shape the subscription landscape in 2026?
I believe we will see even greater clarity and individual closeness in the subscription landscape in 2026. By clarity, I mean clear communication of the value proposition. By individual closeness, I mean the relationship between the subscription business and the individual customer, who must feel seen and, above all, enriched by the elements of the value proposition that create value specifically for them.
Here, in line with my previous answers, I am convinced that companies that succeed in using AI proactively to document and deliver continuous value for each individual customer will gain significant advantages in both retention and lifetime value. “One size fits all” is a closed chapter, and I also expect the focus on growing subscriber numbers to shift toward a stronger focus on higher lifetime value per customer.
How should subscription businesses in 2026 work to strengthen acquisition, engagement, and retention – and where do you expect the greatest impact to be created?
It is absolutely critical that acquisition, engagement, and retention work hand in hand within a subscription business, and that the teams responsible for each discipline are fully aligned around the value proposition, based on a shared overarching subscription strategy with clear goals for collective success. If acquisition is simply pushed aggressively, for example through an outsourced telemarketing bureau with the sole objective of bringing customers in at a low price point, there is a high risk that the associated costs become too high. In the worst case, such efforts can even be damaging if the subsequent disciplines are not designed to create engagement and retention. A sale is not a goal in itself in a subscription context. What truly matters is customer lifetime value. That is why the interaction between sales and relationship-building is essential to creating the strongest possible bottom-line results.
This may sound banal, but in my experience, the real challenge often lies in creating shared focus and ensuring common goals across the organisation’s functions. By bringing sales and relationship-focused teams closer together, despite their often very different skill sets, and setting clear goals for shared success, companies can unlock synergies and create additional value.
System and billing experts from ITERAS, Frisbii, and Vipps MobilePay
In your opinion, what will be the most important competitive factor for subscription businesses in 2026 – and why?
Subscription businesses’ products are, and will remain, the most important competitive factor. New and better digital products are the foundation of commercial success for the companies we work with. These products are largely created through technological advances, with AI in particular playing a central role as a unique tool for understanding human intentions and creating ideas and content that resonate with people.
How do you see AI impacting subscription businesses in 2026, and where will the technology create the greatest value?
The greatest value will be created in the development of new digital products, for example niche websites, automatically generated podcasts, and support within the product development process. AI will, of course, also optimize operations and reduce costs, but I consider that to be secondary.
Which trends and tendencies do you expect will shape the subscription landscape in 2026? And what do you see as the biggest challenge for subscription businesses in 2026?du som den største udfordring for abonnementsvirksomheder i 2026?
The biggest trend and the biggest challenge are closely connected: Adopting new technologies and successfully translating them into real value. AI language models are frighteningly easy to start using, but creating results that truly make a difference requires thoughtfulness and strategic focus. It is easy to produce something that appears useful at first glance, but in practice does not move the needle very much – especially because competitors can just as easily do the same. Technology must be a driving force in businesses, but it can also quickly become blinding. We are probably in the midst of an AI optimism bubble, where human values unfortunately risk slipping out of focus.
In your opinion, what will be the most important competitive factor for subscription businesses in 2026 – and why?
In 2026, the companies that anticipate the future – and act on it in time – will win.
Subscription businesses are entering an era where stability is an illusion, and change is the only constant. The companies that succeed will be those willing to continuously rethink their business, embrace innovation, and adapt before the market forces them to. In 2026, winners will not be defined by size or history, but by vision, courage, and the ability to turn insights into lasting value in their recurring revenue.
How do you see AI impacting subscription businesses in 2026, and where will the technology create the greatest value?
In 2026, it won’t be the amount of data that wins – but whether your AI can translate it into actions that give you a competitive edge.
AI will increasingly transform subscription businesses from being reactive to becoming proactive. Subscription models are already extremely data-rich, but historically, the biggest challenge has been turning that data into decisions that drive growth. This is exactly where AI creates the most value.
By combining advanced data analytics with AI, companies can identify patterns in customer behavior, predict churn, optimize pricing, and personalize the entire customer journey in real time. Where data was previously used for reporting, AI in 2026 will actively guide actions – from targeted offers and timing of communications to automated decisions about products, add-ons, and campaigns.
The greatest value creation will occur in:
- Growth and revenue: AI optimizes conversion, pricing, campaigns, and Customer Lifetime Value by understanding when, how, and why customers buy.
- Retention and churn reduction: AI allows companies to identify at-risk customers early and act proactively before churn occurs.
- Cost optimization: AI reduces waste and streamlines marketing and sales efforts by focusing on the most effective offers, channels, and customer profiles, increasing profitability.
In 2026, the most successful subscription businesses will not be those with the most data, but those that can use AI to translate the right KPIs into concrete actions. AI thus becomes not just an analytical tool, but a strategic competitive factor that creates more relevant customer experiences and sustainable recurring growth.
Which trends and tendencies do you expect will shape the subscription landscape in 2026?
In 2026, the subscription landscape will be shaped by a shift from stabilization to intelligent scaling and optimization of Customer Lifetime Value.
Data analytics and AI will form the foundation for decision-making, enabling companies to anticipate churn, optimize pricing, and manage growth proactively. Churn prevention, especially involuntary churn, and tokenization will be crucial for stable and secure payment flows. At the same time, flexible and usage-based billing models will gain traction in response to customer demands for transparency and fairness. Loyalty and hyper-personalization will merge, shifting the focus from discounts to relevant, individual experiences. The winners in 2026 will be subscription businesses that can integrate data, payments, billing, and customer experience into one cohesive, intelligent strategy.
How should subscription businesses in 2026 work to strengthen acquisition, engagement, and retention – and where do you expect the greatest impact to be created?
In 2026, subscription businesses should take a holistic approach to the entire customer journey, where data, AI, and payment infrastructure closely connect acquisition, engagement, and retention.
Attracting new customers will be strengthened through data-driven targeting, flexible pricing and billing models, and personalized offers that match actual customer needs and usage. Engagement is built through hyper-personalization, intelligent recommendations, and continuous adaptation of the experience based on behavior and user data. Retention will increasingly be driven by proactive churn prevention, secure and frictionless payments through tokenization, and relevant loyalty programs.
The greatest impact is expected to come from the shift from reactive to proactive management: When AI and analytics are used to anticipate churn, optimize pricing, and trigger the right actions at the right time. Companies that succeed in combining these elements into a single, cohesive strategy will achieve significantly higher Customer Lifetime Value and more sustainable growth in 2026.
In your opinion, what will be the most important competitive factor for subscription businesses in 2026 – and why?
The most important competitive factor for subscription businesses in 2026 will be the ability to systematically increase perceived value over time and thereby build long-term, trust-based customer relationships. In a market with many alternatives and low switching costs, trust and perceived relevance are what keep the relationship alive over time.
This is certainly easier said than done, but AI has fundamentally changed the rules of the game. Where customer data was previously often fragmented and passive, AI now makes it possible to transform large volumes of behavioral and transactional data into concrete, actionable insights. The companies that will stand strongest in 2026 are those that successfully combine data, AI, and execution power.
How do you see AI impacting subscription businesses in 2026, and where will the technology create the greatest value?
In 2026, AI will increasingly function as the central engine that enables subscription businesses to turn the ambition of continuous value creation into concrete action.
The greatest value will be created where AI is applied operationally in day-to-day activities. This is particularly true in identifying when perceived value is starting to decline. By analyzing usage patterns and engagement, AI can provide early warning signals and trigger targeted interventions.
In addition, AI offers improved opportunities to make the value of the subscription visible. Instead of generic messages, businesses can communicate more concretely what the customer actually gets out of their subscription – based on real usage and behavior.
Which trends and tendencies do you expect will shape the subscription landscape in 2026?
Flexibility will remain one of the most dominant trends shaping the subscription landscape. If you are still working with binary subscription models, you are operating in the past. The ability to pause a subscription, adjust the tier, change the content, or temporarily reduce consumption is no longer perceived as an added feature, but as basic functionality. When flexibility is built into the subscription model, the need for cancellation is reduced because customers experience control rather than lock-in.
Flexibility also has a clear commercial impact. When customers can adapt their subscription instead of cancelling it, the relationship is preserved, and the likelihood of reactivation or upgrading at a later point increases significantly. In this way, flexibility becomes a strategic asset that strengthens relevance, reduces churn, and extends customer lifetime value.
What do you see as the biggest challenge for subscription businesses in 2026?
The biggest challenge for subscription businesses in 2026 will be to meet customers’ rising expectations for relevance without unnecessarily increasing complexity.
For many companies – especially small and medium-sized businesses – the challenge lies in translating data and AI into tangible improvements to the customer experience. The technology is increasingly accessible, but the path from insight to action is often unclear, and a lack of capabilities can slow progress.
At the same time, there is a risk that AI is perceived as an all-or-nothing initiative. The companies that succeed best are often those that start simple, learn along the way, and build gradually. As with most things, it is rarely the perfect solution that drives progress, but the one that is actually put into use.
Tech and AI experts from AI Growth Minds, Subsets, and KPMG Newtech
In your opinion, what will be the most important competitive factor for subscription businesses in 2026 – and why?
The ability to be extremely adaptable. The reason I see adaptability as the most important competitive factor is primarily due to these two reasons:
- The geopolitical situation is unstable, which could quickly shift customer purchasing behavior toward caution or pessimism. Therefore, you need to be able to quickly change the direction/product/structure/strategy of your subscription business.
- AI… SaaS in particular, I believe, will need to be extremely adaptable. As I mention below, ‘vibe coding’ can be both a threat and an advantage. Therefore, I believe that you should be able to embrace it or pivot according to it. And those who manage to adopt it both in their workforce and with solutions will have a clear advantage.
How do you see AI impacting subscription businesses in 2026, and where will the technology create the greatest value?
On the positive side, I expect to see many more “micro-automations” that both reduce costs and increase customer value. In other words, initiatives such as ‘AI automation’ (e.g. smarter and personalized customer service, automated pricing, etc.).
In addition, I believe that “vibe coding” will become a bigger part of the subscription business. Both in terms of being able to create internal tools that streamline workflows, but also to support marketing, and even act as a catalyst for testing new markets.
On the “negative” side, I see SaaS in particular, which does not create proprietary data, feeling the effects of some of its otherwise loyal customers trying to develop their own solutions. (Something that may also contribute to the “subscription fatigue”) in addition to the technological opportunities offered by AI.
If I had to point to one area that I think will provide the most value, my bet would be on niche/vertical vibe coded micro-SaaS.
We see an acute problem need -> build a micro solution for it in 1-2 weeks -> test the market -> if proof of business = invest -> if NOT proof of business = kill.
Which trends and tendencies do you expect will shape the subscription landscape in 2026?
I definitely see that generative AI will continue to be the dominant trend shaping subscription businesses in 2026. This will include AI automation, AI agents, and/or vibe coding. I expect these to be the key topics of discussion throughout the year.
What do you see as the biggest challenge for subscription businesses in 2026?
I believe “subscription fatigue” will become even more prevalent and that AI, especially AI agent-driven SaaS (let’s call it AaaS – AI Agent as a Service), will introduce results-driven business models that could put pressure on the traditional subscription-based model.
If paying for results instead of a subscription becomes feasible, this is a business model worth watching closely.
How should subscription businesses in 2026 work to strengthen acquisition, engagement, and retention – and where do you expect the greatest impact to be created?
I don’t see major changes from 2025. Success will still come down to delivering so much value that switching becomes a disadvantage for the customer. With everything outlined above in mind, I believe there is a lot to be gained by focusing even more on doubling down on this in 2026.
In your opinion, what will be the most important competitive factor for subscription businesses in 2026 – and why?
The most critical competitive advantage for 2026 will be to use AI correctly – and to move fast while doing so. Everyone will use, or try to use, AI. Still, the winners will be those who embed it directly into the customer-facing experience to increase the perceived value from the customer’s perspective.
I believe each subscription business can apply AI in ways unique to its core product value, and that is what I mean by using AI “correctly”. Speed will matter, and I think the companies that win with consumers in their market will be the ones that dare to be bold and move beyond pilots faster than the others.
Generally speaking, consumers are not cancelling subscriptions because of the price; they are cancelling because they are not getting high enough perceived value for the price they pay. The technological opportunities AI provides are uniquely suited to increase perceived value significantly.
How do you see AI impacting subscription businesses in 2026, and where will the technology create the greatest value?
I see AI as the single most important competitive advantage for subscription businesses in 2026, and it will directly influence consumer demand for AI-enabled products. I can already observe a significant difference in how I personally use specific tools in both my work and personal life, and I expect the same shift in behaviour from consumers across subscription categories.
It is difficult to point to one specific area where AI will create the most value, because the application depends on the industry, whether media, fitness, e-commerce, or something else. Also, not every part of a subscription business should necessarily use AI; in many cases, companies need to rethink fundamentals rather than applying AI as a quick fix.
If I had to give a broad answer, I would say “the holistic customer experience.” This spans everything from customer support to lifecycle marketing to the product itself, and the companies that truly improve the experience through well-executed AI initiatives will see the strongest business impact. This stands in sharp contrast to companies that view AI primarily as a cost-reduction tool, which I do not think is a winning mindset for using AI.
A good example is customer service: AI can absolutely reduce support costs, but the real long-term opportunity is to deliver a 10x better customer experience in resolving support inquiries. That is faster, more accurate, contextualized answers. Cost savings will follow, but the first priority should be elevating the user experience – that is where AI can create meaningful, lasting value!
Which trends and tendencies do you expect will shape the subscription landscape in 2026?
- Personalisation will get a new meaning as we move beyond content and products
Personalisation is already an influential trend. However, I think we will see Personalization take on a new meaning as the next wave is not just about showing the right content or products; it is about developing a deeper, semantic understanding of where each customer is in their lifecycle and tailoring the entire experience to that context. Semantic understanding means recognising not just what a customer does, but why they do it, and adjusting the experience to match their intent and context.
- Consumer expectations rise sharply
People use world-class services like Netflix, Spotify, and ChatGPT every day, and these products will form a baseline for product expectations. Consumers will increasingly expect the same or a similar level of quality, simplicity, and intelligence from every subscription they pay for, regardless of category or company size.
- Global competition intensifies
Subscription businesses will increasingly compete globally, not just within their local markets or categories.
- Niche offerings and stronger differentiation
As a result of global competition, I expect continued growth in specialised, niche subscription products as companies seek to stand out with clearer, more focused value propositions.
What do you see as the biggest challenge for subscription businesses in 2026?
One of the biggest challenges for subscription companies in 2026 will be legacy tech stacks and a DIY tech culture (DYI: companies have historically chosen and continouesly will make the choice to build most of their technology internally). I am naturally biased, because we build technology for subscription businesses at Subsets. Still, I do so because I fundamentally believe that buying the right solutions is a better strategy than building technology internally. There will be certain strategic areas where building internally might make sense, so I am speaking from a general perspective here.
To illustrate the point, let me bring up an example using Subsets (the company I am part of building): over the next ~18 months, Subsets will invest more than 30M DKK into developing the leading AI-driven Lifecycle Platform for subscription companies. For any company to build something better than what we are creating, they must either invest more than 30M DKK internally or believe they can outperform us with significantly fewer resources.
I am not saying companies “have to use Subsets”; they might choose a preferred alternative. The point is that fast-moving software companies are developing technology at a pace and investment levels that most organisations can far from match.
So what should internal tech and data teams focus on? Their core role should be to identify and validate the right tools, set the right requirements, and integrate the broader tech stack in a way that creates real commercial value, e.g., by making it easy to use third-party platforms whenever it makes sense.
And again, there will be certain areas where internal development can be the right call, and companies should build in those cases.
In your opinion, what will be the most important competitive factor for subscription businesses in 2026 – and why?
I believe we will see subscription businesses become even more dominant, as we all use more and more services, and because AI enables many of these services to become genuinely valuable to us. The most important competitive factor will be the ability to get users to actually use the product, continue using it, and experience increasing value over time. In other words: adoption.
We are all competing more and more for attention and time, so the companies that can deliver the most value in the least amount of time, and at the same time ensure continuous usage, will be the strongest.
How do you see AI impacting subscription businesses in 2026, and where will the technology create the greatest value?
We will see far more “invisible” subscriptions, where we have effectively hired AI agents to perform tasks for us without actively interacting with them. The greatest value from AI will come from solutions created individually for each user – inspired by the Palantir model, for example. I believe we will soon see this catch on in B2C, where subscriptions will be tailored to each person because it makes sense for the user and is only now truly possible with AI.
Which trends and tendencies do you expect will shape the subscription landscape in 2026?
We will move from perhaps 5–10% of the world’s population working in IT and digital development to at least 50% of all jobs in practice involving digital development. Everyone will be working with technical elements such as coding, designing, testing, iterating and designing AI into flows – because the value-vs.-effort ratio with tools such as Claude Code, Gemini and Lovable will be so good that it will not make sense not to.
In addition, I believe we will see a significant shift back towards adoption. We love to talk about large, impressive multi-agent systems, but the companies that really succeed with them are those that have first built up a broad, stable and value-creating adoption of more general AI tools.
Media experts from Aller Media, Ritzau, Politiken and Zetland
In your opinion, what will be the most important competitive factor for subscription businesses in 2026 – and why?
The most important competitive factor in 2026 will be transparency and perceived fairness across the entire subscription relationship. We are currently in a phase of significant subscription fatigue, where consumers are actively pruning their subscriptions and primarily retaining products that feel valuable and easy to understand. Anything that feels hidden, opaque, or difficult to cancel becomes a direct driver of churn.
In 2026, the winners will be the companies that make trust and usability part of their brand DNA. This means:
- Transparent pricing and clear value propositions, with no hidden fees or unexpected upgrades.
- Easy to cancel and easy to pause – not just as a technical function, but as an active part of the customer experience, signaling security.
- A clear “value ladder,” showing exactly what is included in free, standard, and premium tiers.
- Real choice and flexibility, e.g., shorter commitments, modular products, and the ability to scale usage up or down according to need.
As competition for consumers’ attention and wallets intensifies, it won’t necessarily be product features that differentiate – but the experience of fairness, transparency, and control. In a market characterized by abundance and saturation, trust will, in my view, be one of the most valuable competitive factors.
How do you see AI impacting subscription businesses in 2026, and where will the technology create the greatest value?
AI will be one of the most transformative forces in the subscription market in 2026. It already affects the entire value chain, but AI creates the greatest value where there is potential for personalization and automation.
Acquisition & personalized onboarding
AI enables tailoring of the initial user experience.
- Onboarding flows become dynamic, adapting to user behavior in real time.
- Recommended content is based on first clicks, reading habits, and preferences.
- Personal triggers – e.g., push notifications, emails, or recommendations that boost conversion from free to paid.
Engagement & personalized experiences
AI enhances engagement by making experiences more relevant, manageable, and inspiring.
- Homepages, newsletters, and feeds are automatically generated or curated according to individual user patterns.
- Articles, videos, and podcasts are assembled into personal themes or playlists.
- “Here’s what you missed” feeds bring back users who have been inactive.
Retention & churn prediction
AI is and continues to be central to retention efforts.
- Real-time models identify high-risk churners before they leave.
- Retention flows are automatically triggered based on cause: lack of usage, price sensitivity, content saturation, etc.
- Dynamic pricing and modular upgrades or downgrades can be customized for each customer.
Which trends and tendencies do you expect will shape the subscription landscape in 2026?
I expect several major market shifts that will define the subscription economy in the coming years:
Subscription fatigue → from acquisition to retention:
Consumers are saying goodbye to excess subscriptions, choosing fewer but higher-value products tailored to their needs. The focus should shift to building relationships, engagement, and delivering value.
Flexibility and fair UX win:
Users expect full control:
- Shorter commitment periods
- Easy pausing and cancellation
- Clear, simple pricing structures
- No hidden terms
This creates security in both the purchase phase and the ongoing customer relationship.
Bundling and partnerships:
We already see more partnerships being formed and new bundled products across industries. I expect even more collaborations being formed with media, telecoms, banks, and retailers, creating combined offerings.
There are several advantages to bundling products for both users and businesses:
- More products for one price → better value proposition
- Higher ARPU → healthier business
- Lower churn → more stable subscription bases
Ad-supported and hybrid models:
Free/ad-supported content combined with a paid premium tier will become standard. This provides:
- A larger top-funnel
- More registered users
- Better data
- A clear upgrade path
Greater format diversity:
The expectations to content are already broader than before, but subscribers will continue to expect more activity and more formats in which to experience content:
- Audio
- Video
- Live
- Interactive formats
- Events and experiences
Content becomes an ecosystem – not just a channel.
Community and experiences as value:
Premium products must provide more than content – they must provide belonging. Events, clubs, exclusive content, and access to communities will be central to justifying higher subscription prices.
How should subscription businesses in 2026 work to strengthen acquisition, engagement, and retention – and where do you expect the greatest impact to be created?
I believe the biggest impact will come from creating engagement in the customer relationship, both at the point of sale and as a focus area in CRM and retention.
Acquisition – where will growth come from?
Growth will not come from mass advertising alone but from intelligent funnels. This requires:
- A strong free/ad-supported tier that generates logins, data, and relationships
- Flexible introductory offers with minimal commitments
- AI-driven onboarding that quickly helps users form habits
- A clear value ladder, making upgrades obvious
Engagement – how to keep users active?
Engagement is the glue of a subscription business. It is strengthened by:
- Personalized feeds and recommendations, making content relevant every day
- A vibrant mix of formats: text + video + audio + live + events
- Segmented newsletters and push messages with clear value triggers
- Community features that build identity and belonging
Retention – how to reduce churn
Retention in 2026 is about proactivity and fairness. Companies should focus on:
- AI-based churn prediction, identifying issues before cancellation
- Automated retention flows addressing the specific reason for churn
- Pause functions as an active tool—a psychological buffer that reduces cancellations
- Premiumization: experiences, club benefits, exclusive content, and the feeling of “more value for money”
In your opinion, what will be the most important competitive factor for subscription businesses in 2026 – and why?
The single most important competitive factor for subscription businesses in 2026 will be retention and expansion of the customer base. This represents a fundamental shift away from the previous era of growth at any cost. The reason is a combination of rising customer acquisition costs (CAC), increased price sensitivity among consumers, and the maturing subscription economy, where the market for new customers in many industries is approaching saturation. Average household spending on streaming services has increased in recent years, which means many consumers are likely to reconsider at least one of their subscriptions.
How do you see AI impacting subscription businesses in 2026, and where will the technology create the greatest value?
AI will create the most value in three core areas: Predictive churn prevention, real-time hyper-personalization, and intelligent pricing and offer management.
- Predictive churn prevention will have the most direct impact on the bottom line. AI models can analyze vast amounts of behavioral data, such as declining engagement or changes in usage patterns, to identify customers at high risk of canceling their subscription before they decide to leave. This enables proactive interventions such as personalized offers, relevant guidance, or reminders of the service’s value.
- Real-time hyper-personalization improves the customer experience. Traditional segment-based marketing campaigns are no longer sufficient. Consumers now expect interactions that are relevant to their specific situation in the moment. AI enables this by analyzing individual behavior patterns and delivering tailored content, product recommendations, and communications across all channels.
- For example, AI can optimize the timing of email sends so each customer receives communication at the time they are historically most likely to engage.
- Intelligent pricing and offer management is the third major value area. AI can analyze data to orchestrate dynamic offers, recommending the right message, incentive, or product in real time. This goes beyond simple discounts to include identifying the most opportune moments for upselling or cross-selling. For B2B SaaS companies, AI will also be critical for implementing outcome-based pricing models, as it can measure and validate the results being billed for.
- Finally, AI will enable predictive segmentation, which is far more advanced than traditional methods. AI can identify complex patterns in data and create dynamic segments based on churn probability, upgrade potential, or specific product needs. These segments update automatically in real time, ensuring marketing and customer success efforts are always targeted and relevant.
Which trends and tendencies do you expect will shape the subscription landscape in 2026?
The subscription landscape in 2026 will be shaped by several major trends that together redefine how companies create, deliver, and retain value.
Three key trends to watch:
- Consolidation through bundling: Consumer fatigue with a fragmented market of countless individual subscriptions will continue to drive consolidation. Strategic bundling, combining multiple services into one attractive package, will become a decisive competitive advantage.
- Pause functionality as a standard: What was once a niche feature will become a standard expectation. The ability to pause a subscription instead of canceling permanently is an extremely effective retention mechanism. Even if the subscriber churns temporarily, they see themselves as loyal because “they’ll always come back.” This requires a shift in focus from churn to Customer Lifetime Value (CLV).
- Zero-party data: In an era of heightened data protection (GDPR, phasing out of third-party cookies), zero-party data (information voluntarily and proactively shared by customers) will become a critical resource. Companies that successfully collect and use zero-party data to deliver better, personalized experiences will build trust and achieve a clear competitive advantage. Generative AI is perfect for processing unstructured data, which zero-party data sometimes is.
How should subscription businesses in 2026 work to strengthen acquisition, engagement, and retention – and where do you expect the greatest impact to be created?
In 2026, subscription businesses need to rethink the entire customer lifecycle with a clear understanding that the greatest financial impact comes from retention and expansion of the existing customer base. This requires strategically reallocating resources away from a singular focus on acquiring new customers, which many growth companies have aimed for.
- Acquisition: Efforts should be targeted and efficient, not volume-driven. Data should be used to identify profitable customers, so that potential customers who will not be profitable can be identified – and rejected when they try to sign up for a subscription. AI should be used to identify and target customer segments with historically low churn and high lifetime value.
- Engagement (or proactive loyalty): Engagement should move from generic marketing campaigns to being an integral part of the product experience. This includes investments in personalized onboarding, proactive guidance, and contextual in-app messages. AI is key to scaling this by delivering individualized interactions based on user behavior. The goal is to ensure the customer continuously experiences value, which is the strongest driver of loyalty.
- Retention: This is where the greatest potential for value creation lies. Retention must be proactive, not reactive. Using predictive AI, companies can identify at-risk customers and intervene before they cancel, offering incentives with the highest likelihood of keeping the subscriber.
In your opinion, what will be the most important competitive factor for subscription businesses in 2026 – and why?
For subscription businesses in general, it’s communities. It’s much harder for a user to cancel a community than a subscription. For media companies, the sense of community is also a significant competitive factor. At Politiken, we have a long-standing tradition with a membership club, special events for our subscribers, reader engagement through our debate section, and most recently our new conversation track, where we offer a platform for readers to discuss content with our journalists.
For media specifically: Unique, original, editor-driven content that is not available elsewhere.
How do you see AI impacting subscription businesses in 2026, and where will the technology create the greatest value?
We use AI to increase productivity, streamline operations, and reduce repetitive tasks. But where I hope we can gain even more value is through predictive technology. In the long term, I dream of becoming even sharper at identifying trends and patterns, particularly regarding our subscribers’ needs, so we can meet them proactively through personalized solutions that make the user experience even sharper.
Right now, we are building a database of all our initiatives from 2025, a repository that contains all efforts, results, and evaluations. We work with digital growth hacking, constantly making small adjustments, and we want to capture them all in a shared “brain” that everyone can access in the future.
Hvilke trends og tendenser forventer du vil forme abonnementslandskabet i 2026?
- Flexible subscriptions win – It should be easy to pause, purchase, or cancel. Many think “handcuffing” reduces churn, but behavior among younger users shows they tend to shop around between subscriptions. Making that behavior easy actually increases the likelihood they will return.
- Bundling or soft bundles give customers flexibility, and flexibility reduces churn.
- We’ve long emphasized onboarding. I’m currently focusing on ensuring the habit is established once onboarding is completed. This is a more complex exercise than the classic “welcome” or “remember to download the app.”
- I believe we will see even more communities. It should be clear what sets us apart from others and what is exclusive here.
- Audio and video content are here to stay, so it will be interesting to see what new services emerge in this area.
- Digital marketing, especially on tech platforms, has become expensive and challenging in recent years. This opens opportunities to focus on brand development and more traditional brand marketing, where the trend of communities is an exciting component to leverage.
Additional points:
- Winners are those who prioritize retention over sales.
- Use AI smartly, not aggressively.
- Build relationships, not just products.
- Create real value quickly, then focus on habit formation.
What do you see as the biggest challenge for subscription businesses in 2026?
That people have so many subscriptions that it’s difficult to capture their attention, especially when they are also doomscrolling.
In your opinion, what will be the most important competitive factor for subscription businesses in 2026 – and why?
We must still remember that the starting point, of course, is a unique product that delivers more value than it costs and is sold and marketed to the right customers. But in 2026, competition will increasingly revolve around trust. As computer code becomes a commodity and good digital products can be built in no time if you can articulate a user need, branding, storytelling, and trust become table stakes, and only once these are in place will you even get a customer to try your product.
This applies equally to existing products and companies: Build a credible brand that your customers want to succeed. And focus on finding and developing the parts of your business that AI cannot yet replace.
Zetland operates in a market where AI-generated content is exploding. In this context, credibility and human curation become the ultimate luxury. Consumers (and especially Zetland’s members) will not pay for more content, but for better content, selected by humans they trust.
In this situation, the winners will be subscription businesses that manage to stand out from the noise. It’s about moving from being an anonymous transactional service provider to being a trusted partner – or even a genuine friend – who helps the member navigate the world. If the member trusts that we have their best interests at heart (and are not just trying to steal their attention), we become indispensable.
How do you see AI impacting subscription businesses in 2026, and where will the technology create the greatest value?
We are “all” still getting used to finding the many areas in our work where an AI solution can make things incrementally better and faster than we can. So, AI is still primarily a productivity booster, and, to a lesser extent, a creativity booster or an agent enabling us to do things we couldn’t even imagine pre-AI. That is coming, but it’s not everyday reality yet.
In 2026, the greatest change will still be in productivity. For Zetland, AI should not replace the journalist, but act as a friendly helper (who is still occasionally a bit tipsy). AI can serve as a purchaser, code writer, bookkeeper, polite email writer, idea-sparring partner, spreadsheet cruncher, legal assistant, and much more. In that sense, it’s the same story as in recent years, but it’s also a completely different world. I often catch myself thinking: How on earth did you manage without Gemini a year ago?
Specifically, I’m curious whether predictive retention has finally become good enough for practical use, so we are experimenting with it. The goal is to analyze behavior patterns to identify members who are starting to drift away before they even realize it themselves, so we can re-engage them with relevant human-curated content. Again, for us, the focus is on using technology to strengthen the human relationship, not replace it.
Which trends and tendencies do you expect will shape the subscription landscape in 2026?
In addition to the above, I think we will see an increasing focus on screen freedom and digital detox, both for children and young people, but perhaps especially for resourceful adults. People want to escape the control of screens and algorithms, so products that promise to help them become better versions of themselves in that regard will have a huge advantage. And since habits form and break over time, subscriptions are often a very suitable model for this.
I also see a trend toward community-led growth instead of sales-led or even product-led growth. Marketing is getting more expensive, and trust in ads is declining. Growth will come from the community. The existing members recruit new ones because the product serves as an identity marker.
And importantly for Zetland: Many users no longer want to be passive consumers or customers – they want to be active co-creators. People don’t just want to subscribe – they want to belong. I believe brands that can give users a sense of participation and influence (and preferably more than just the feeling :)) will outperform passive streaming services, where you just feel like a credit card number.
How should subscription businesses in 2026 work to strengthen acquisition, engagement, and retention – and where do you expect the greatest impact to be created?
At Zetland, we have for several years focused on leveraging existing members for acquisition. This is by far the most meaningful way for us to grow, because it builds stronger relationships with both the new members who join through personal recommendations and the existing members who help spread the word about a service that makes a difference in their own lives.
The “contracts” generated by our member-get-member campaigns are far stronger than any ad could ever be. Again, the keyword is personal, which almost by definition contrasts with algorithms and AI. If you build the right psychological contracts with existing members, the entire flywheel, from awareness to acquisition, activation, engagement, retention, and referral, is strengthened.
I don’t think every subscription business can leverage referral and word-of-mouth as much as we do, but for many, there is huge untapped potential, because most of us want to identify with our subscription choices and share our own life hacks with friends.
Retail expert from Matas
In your opinion, what will be the most important competitive factor for subscription businesses in 2026 – and why?
Companies must continuously demonstrate value and make it simple and concrete for each customer to understand: “This is what you got – and this is why it was worth staying this month.”
In other words, one can broadly say: The “net experience of value” per month will be the most important competitive factor – it’s not just about price, but rather how clearly the customer experiences that staying is worthwhile.
Why:
- The market is subscription-saturated → consumers cut down and keep only what delivers tangible value, whether in savings, convenience, security, advice, or time saved.
- Customers have too many subscriptions and continuously ask themselves: “Am I actually using this?”. Comparisons are therefore made not only on price but also on how often they receive something relevant.
- If the value is not personally experienced, the subscription will be canceled – even if it is objectively “good.”
- This places high demands on companies to continuously create and maintain a sense of relevance.
- At the same time, clarity, transparency, and flexibility become part of the value: The customer should easily understand, use, and adjust their subscription – without feeling locked in.
How do you see AI impacting subscription businesses in 2026, and where will the technology create the greatest value?
By 2026, AI is no longer experimental but a mission-critical operational layer under the subscription. It enables more personalization, more automation, and faster learning across the customer journey – making it possible to act earlier, more personally, and more efficiently than before.
The greatest value is typically created in three areas:
A) Scalable, relevant personalization (engagement and retention)
AI can turn vast amounts of customer data into real-time, actionable recommendations:
- What should this customer encounter next? – In which channel? With which message?
- What is the customer’s “next best action”?
Concrete Matas example:
A vitamin customer receives reminders to repurchase at the optimal time, along with a recommendation to subscribe – ensuring they never run out and gain extra benefits like discounts or free shipping.
Effect:
More customers actively use their benefits, perceive higher relevance, and face a lower risk of churn because the subscription feels “designed for me.”
B) Churn prevention and intelligent retention (retention and margin)
AI can identify churn risk before the customer decides to cancel, based on drops in activity, changes in purchasing behavior, or lack of response.
This allows companies to move from reactive to proactive retention:
Concrete Matas example:
In 2025, Matas experimented with AI-driven retention in Club Matas Plus via the Subsets platform. Subscribers at high risk of churn are identified. Particularly previously active but now inactive customers are targeted with personalized re-engagement flows.
Several of these flows increased retention by up to 29 percentage points in 30 days, while engagement and order volumes also rose significantly. This demonstrated that AI-driven retention not only reduces churn but creates immediate business value.
Hence, AI in 2026 becomes a central operational layer in subscription businesses.
C) Scalable service and advice (acquisition and engagement)
AI assistants -online, in apps, and in-store – can scale advisory services for product matching, routine building, or “what suits me?”. This means that:
- Customers can get qualified advice 24/7, even outside store hours.
- Advice becomes more consistent across channels.
- Staff are freed up for more complex, high-value customer interactions.
Effect:
Higher conversion, fewer errors in selection, fewer issues on the purchase journey, and higher customer satisfaction, ultimately leading to better subscriber retention.
Conclusion:
By 2026, AI is not just an efficiency tool, it’s a decisive competitive advantage for subscription businesses. Winners will be the companies that use AI to:
- Create personalized relevance at scale
- Proactively prevent churn
- Experiment quickly and data-driven
- And hereby allowing profitable growth without eroding margins.
Which trends and tendencies do you expect will shape the subscription landscape in 2026?
The subscription landscape in 2026 will be shaped by one fundamental insight: Customers have too many subscriptions and too little patience. Winners are companies that can clearly demonstrate value month after month – and make it personal for each customer.
- Experience-first: Subscriptions are moving from simple payment models to membership experiences. Value comes not just from discounts or free delivery, but from access to advice, services, pre-access, VIP feel, community, and exclusive experiences that build relationships rather than transactions.
- AI personalization: Generic offers lose effectiveness, while personalized recommendations, routines, and benefits strengthen engagement and retention.
- AI moves from experiment to operations: In 2026, AI is an integral part of the subscription business, predicting churn, personalizing content, and optimizing the customer journey in real-time. Retention becomes proactive, enabling faster experimentation and learning.
- Another clear trend is increased demand for flexibility: Customers want the ability to pause, adjust, or switch frequency – without penalty. “Anti-lock-in” becomes a selling point.
- Proof of value and transparency: Companies that clearly show what the customer has gained from the subscription experience lower churn and increase loyalty. Customers want a monthly “value statement”, e.g., achieved benefits, money saved, used perks, exclusive services.
- Bundling and partnerships: Subscriptions increasingly exist within ecosystems and in partnerships where total value trumps individual benefits. Complemented by seamless omni-channel experiences – across digital and physical touchpoints – this will be crucial to remaining relevant.
Conclusion:
In 2026, the subscription landscape is defined by personalization, AI, flexibility, transparency, and engagement, as well as the ability of companies to design experiences that feel right for each customer. It’s about both acquisition and retention. Hence, successful companies don’t just create subscriptions – they build relationships and habits.
How should subscription businesses in 2026 work to strengthen acquisition, engagement, and retention – and where do you expect the greatest impact to be created?
Growth in 2026 is about attracting the right customers: Getting them started quickly, and ensuring that value is continuously experienced. This means that acquisition, engagement, and retention are no longer separate disciplines – they are inseparably linked in a single value chain.
Acquisition:
The greatest effects come from clarity about why the subscription exists and who it is relevant for. In a saturated market, broad promises and generic benefits underperform. Companies win by positioning subscriptions around concrete needs, such as convenience, advice, security, or economic value – and using data and AI to attract customer segments with a high likelihood of long-term engagement. Easy sign-up and a clear first-value promise are crucial to reducing early churn.
Engagement:
Engagement does not happen by itself – it must be designed. The biggest impact is in onboarding and the first 30 days. Customers must experience value quickly and intuitively, and personalization is key: Customers must be presented with benefits, services, and recommendations tailored to their behavior and needs. Rituals like personal recommendations, monthly value statements, or relevant reminders reinforce relevance and increase the likelihood that the subscription becomes a habit rather than just a line item on a statement.
Retention:
By 2026, retention is becoming increasingly proactive. Using AI, subscription businesses can identify churn risk early and act before the customer decides to cancel. Effective retention is less about discounts and more about addressing the causes of disengagement: Lack of relevance, excessive complexity, or insufficient perceived value. Flexibility – such as pause, adjustment, or downgrade options – becomes a key alternative to cancellation and is often perceived as a value-adding service in itself.
Where are the greatest effects?
The biggest business gains in 2026 come from the interaction between onboarding, personalized engagement, and early churn prevention. Companies that activate customers quickly, maintain ongoing relevance, and intervene early when engagement drops will achieve higher lifetime value and more profitable growth.
Conclusion:
Successful subscription businesses in 2026 do not grow by pushing more volume into the top of the funnel, they grow by optimizing the entire customer journey. It’s about building relationships that feel relevant, flexible, and value-creating – every single month.
Streaming experts from Mofibo and TV2 Play
In your opinion, what will be the most important competitive factor for subscription businesses in 2026 – and why?
One of the most important competitive factors for subscription businesses in 2026 will be ensuring ongoing relevance of their product to subscribers. This isn’t revolutionary in itself, but with such a wide range of products and services on the market, it’s more important than ever that a subscription is value-creating.
How do you see AI impacting subscription businesses in 2026, and where will the technology create the greatest value?
This question can be viewed from both a customer/product perspective and a commercially-centered perspective. From the latter angle, I expect AI to particularly impact areas of marketing as well as innovation in digital customer handling and personalized self-service solutions as a next stage in the development of chatbots, etc., which many customers interact with in customer service today.
What do you see as the biggest challenge for subscription businesses in 2026?
I believe we will see products and services become even more personalized and targeted toward the audiences they serve, in order to create the most value possible. Furthermore, I expect the subscription model as a business model will continue to expand, even among companies that historically have not offered subscriptions, because the combination of simplicity of the value proposition for customers and predictable revenue management for the company remains valuable for both parties.
How should subscription businesses in 2026 work to strengthen acquisition, engagement, and retention – and where do you expect the greatest impact to be created?
I still consider engagement and retention to be among the most essential areas to refine and innovate in subscription businesses in order to ensure customer loyalty and perceived value. Part of engagement relates to revising product offerings and packages, and another part to lifecycle management and relevant communication. In combination, I believe these two areas will be among the most central for subscription businesses in 2026.
In your opinion, what will be the most important competitive factor for subscription businesses in 2026 – and why?
I expect mutual value creation to be the most important competitive factor in 2026. It sounds basic, but subscription businesses that truly understand what creates value for their subscribers while supporting the business will be strongest. Once you identify that intersection, you must dare to go all-in. Happy subscribers create the healthiest business.
Like many others, I’ve loved reading Morten Münster’s new book “Afdelingen for magisk tænkning” (The Department of Magical Thinking). He beautifully explores the concept of brilliant basics. If a subscription business masters the fundamentals – why people sign up and why they stay – and consistently builds on that, it creates a win-win foundation that is hard to compete against.
How do you see AI impacting subscription businesses in 2026, and where will the technology create the greatest value?
In 2026, I expect AI to move from experiments to real operational solutions. 2025 was dominated by testing and exploring potential, but the next step is to convert learning into tangible value.
The greatest potential for subscription businesses lies in AI’s ability to identify patterns and shifts in subscription data that are otherwise difficult to detect: Changes in behavior, early churn signals, or segments that require action. At the same time, AI becomes essential for scaling personalization, allowing us to communicate more relevantly to each individual customer without compromising quality, tone, or human touch.
Which trends and tendencies do you expect will shape the subscription landscape in 2026?
Partnerships and bundling will continue to play a central role in 2026. In an increasingly fragmented market -especially in streaming – it makes sense for subscription businesses to bundle offerings and reduce friction for users. Recently, we’ve seen Netflix attempt to acquire Warner Bros, including HBO Max, and it will be interesting to see how that materializes in 2026.
I expect this trend to spread across industries, with subscription businesses finding new ways to complement each other.
How should subscription businesses in 2026 work to strengthen acquisition, engagement, and retention – and where do you expect the greatest impact to be created?
In 2026, subscription businesses should focus on growth through relevance rather than volume. Automation and AI make it possible to scale communication, but the greatest effect occurs when companies also manage the amount, timing, and context for each individual customer. Less, better communication strengthens acquisition, engagement, and retention, because customer attention is treated as a scarce resource rather than a given.
At the same time, credibility, permissions, and personalization become critical competitive factors. Pressure on email and other channels means that every customer interaction must be explainable and defensible: Why are you receiving this, and why now? In 2026, customers expect companies to use their data responsibly to deliver more personal and better experiences. Subscription businesses that succeed in combining personalization, integrity, and respect for customer attention will create the largest and most sustainable impact across KPIs.
