Middle-class South Africa is abandoning streaming for AI

AI Tools Subscription According to a new report from Discovery and Visa, consumer wallet share is growing.

Speaking at the launch of Search At the SpendTrends 2026 report in Johannesburg on Tuesday, Visa South Africa country head LineMr Moodley said AI subscriptions are set to almost double in 2025, with Discovery Bank analysis showing 43% of Visa customers are paying for AI subscriptions.

“AI subscriptions are growing rapidly in South Africa, with payment volumes increasing 125% and the share of total subscription payments set to double in 2025. This signals a shift towards more functional, value-driven entertainment services. Consumers are moving from passively accumulating subscriptions to actively managing them,” the report said.

SpendTrend is an annual report combining spending data visa With Discovery's analytical expertise. The 2026 edition focuses on consumer behavior in 2025, compared with 2021. Discovery Bank customers who pay with Visa sit in the upper middle class of South Africa's population, meaning the data is skewed towards those with higher incomes.

ChatGPT is the most popular paid-based AI tool among those surveyed, used by 67% of respondents who pay for an AI tool. Google's Gemini came second with 35% and Microsoft's Copilot came third with 27%. Respondents may select more than one tool, so the total sums to more than 100%.

Home shopping is one of the most prominent use cases. According to the report, 40% of South Africans in the sample use AI tools weekly or more to make purchasing decisions. data from euromonitorThe report also cited that 3.5% of global online store referrals in 2025 came through AI.

AI-assisted shopping

Of consumers who use AI for shopping, 61% use it for price comparison, 53% for product research, and 47% for finding deals. Of those who made AI-supported purchasing decisions in the past 12 months, 42% used the technology to choose a cheaper option, 35% to switch brands or retailers and 35% to avoid risky purchases or potential scams.

Hilton Cullner, CEO of Discovery Bank, said, “Consumer spending, more and more, is AI driven. This is more prevalent in younger age groups, with 50% of people adopting AI being 18 to 30 years old. Shoppers are also using AI to avoid fraud and risky purchases.”

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Discovery Bank is also using AI in its backend to reduce fraud, Kalner said. “We have seen an 85% reduction in fraud using AI at the per-purchase level,” he said.

As AI subscriptions have taken up a larger share of wallet spend, other categories like streaming and sports booking have seen their share decline. Streaming's share of subscription wallets fell from 67% in 2023 to 34% in 2024 and just 11% in 2025 – a relative decline in share, not necessarily an absolute decline in streaming spending.

The way South Africans manage subscriptions is also changing. In earlier years a binary subscribe-or-not paradigm dominated, which sometimes led to unused services being paid for passively. In 2025, proactive management becomes the norm, with users pausing and restarting services based on time and value. The report said essential services are recovering rapidly, while entertainment services are being used more flexibly.

The report said the return rate for streaming and online media was about 34%, with 13% to 30% of users returning after four to six months – “reflecting more discretionary use”. Food and grocery subscriptions showed the most resiliency: 48% of users who paused them returned, and 79% of them resumed within two to three months.

Reading: Discovery Bank CEO Hilton Kulner on the future of banking in South Africa

Of those who changed, paused, or discontinued a subscription in the past 12 months, 46% said they only keep a subscription if specific content or features are available, 39% cited price increases and 27% cited general budget pressures.

According to Visa's Moodley, AI subscriptions are expected to grow further as agentic AI tools reach the mass market. – (c) 2026 NewsCentral Media