churn investment & finance definition

The rate of subscriber or customer turnover. If a company has a high rate of churn, it means the company may attract a large number of customers but will typically lose them at a rapid rate. The churn rate measures the number of customers that discontinue service in a typical month, and often is expressed as a percentage of a company’s average subscriber base for the time period. The term often is used in conjunction with subscribers to wireless telephone companies.