South African consumers are shifting away from entertainment-focused online subscriptions toward services offering productivity and everyday convenience, with artificial intelligence subscriptions recording the second-fastest growth of any category over the past year, according to the Discovery Bank SpendTrend26 report.
AI subscription payment volumes grew 125% during the year, and AI services have replaced streaming as the most popular type of subscription by share of total payment volumes. Approximately 42% of users surveyed said they paid for an AI subscription. ChatGPT was the most popular option, used by 67% of survey participants, followed by Google Gemini at 35% and Microsoft Copilot at 27%. Roughly 40% of respondents said they used AI tools weekly or more when making product buying decisions.
The fastest-growing category overall was e-commerce subscriptions, with payment volumes climbing 695% and increasing their share of the total subscription basket by 10 percentage points. Well-known options in South Africa include TakealotMore and Checkers XtraSavings Plus, which offer benefits such as free delivery and exclusive discounts.
The bank noted that popular AI subscriptions are generally more expensive than video and music streaming services, which may partly explain the category’s high share of payment volumes despite lower absolute user numbers.
The research, conducted in partnership with Visa, also found that 89% of South African households held a video streaming subscription, 71% subscribed to a music service and 38% had a gaming subscription. Online media subscription payment volumes increased 30%, while streaming subscriptions grew 15%. Gaming subscription payment volumes fell 30%, partly attributed to Microsoft’s substantial Game Pass price increases toward the end of 2025.
Consumer behavior around subscriptions is also evolving. The report found that 34% of surveyed households switched between services, 30% paused a subscription without reactivating it, 26% downgraded to a cheaper plan and 23% reactivated a subscription they had previously cancelled. Some 48% admitted paying for at least one subscription they did not use in a given month, though 67% said they review their recurring charges monthly.
AI subscriptions recorded the lowest return rate after cancellation at 15%, though more than 89% of those who did return did so within six months. Food and grocery subscriptions had the highest return rate, with 48% of users reactivating within a year. Discovery Bank described the overall trend as a shift toward more functional, value-driven services, with consumers becoming increasingly selective about which subscriptions they maintain.
