Definition
Churn is the general term for the loss of subscribers, customers, or audience members over a period of time. In the creator economy, churn applies to email list unsubscribes, YouTube unsubscribes, Patreon cancellations, and course refunds. A healthy business maintains a churn rate low enough that new acquisition outpaces losses, resulting in net growth. Understanding churn is essential for forecasting revenue, evaluating content strategy effectiveness, and identifying inflection points where audience expectations were not met.