Survey: 65% of Users Would Pay $50 for a Bundle of Their 5 Favorite Streamers; What’s Stopping Aggregation?
It’s becoming increasingly apparent that consolidation will be the next wave of evolution in the streaming market. The hundreds of subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services now on the market simply don’t have a large enough new customer pool to pull from, and many will likely be folded into new, unified services, or simply shuttered completely in the next few years.
A quick glance around the streaming industry shows this has already begun. Max was born out of the integration of HBO Max and discovery+ in May 2023. Paramount+ with Showtime followed at the end of June, and while there’s no firm date on when it will happen, Disney is planning to unite Disney+ and Hulu into a “one-app experience” either before or after it purchases the last outstanding portion of Hulu from Comcast.
Those mergers are coming none too soon, according to viewers. Aluma Insights has released new data that shows 65% of streaming customers think their favorite shows are scattered across too many different services. Almost half of SVOD subscribers (48%) say they don’t like having to switch between apps to watch a different show.
To combat this, Aluma suggests streamers from different companies start to bring their services together on the same platform, with one point of contact for customers. Users could sign up for all of their top streaming services in one place, and subscribe to as many as they want, getting a discount once they hit a specific number.
This is similar to how platforms like Verizon’s +play work, and customers would respond very favorably. Sixty-five percent of users surveyed by Aluma would pay $50 per month for a bundle of their five favorite streaming services. While Amazon’s Prime Video Channels does not give bonus discounts for subscribing to premium channels and streamers via its platform, it does often have discounts and free trials that aren’t even available directly through the services.
So what’s stopping a greater push toward aggregation by streaming providers? As Aluma points out, sustainably profitable inter-network streaming bundles would likely have to come from a company that offers original content, a digital platform, physical media devices, and support services, such as Google and YouTube’s parent company Alphabet, Apple, or Roku.
That means that other companies that don’t provide all of these things would have to partner with a company that does, which in turn would mean surrendering some control over their own products. It would be a tough sell to try to convince streamers who are used to offering whatever features they want at any price they can make money off of to sacrifice competitive advantages by bringing their services together on one platform, and offering discounts for bundling with former rivals.
Right now, streamers are more worried about how to get users watching more content in their intra-company bundles. But the future of greater aggregation is coming; WBD CEO David Zaslav warned his compatriot executives this year that “If we don’t do it to ourselves, I think it will be done to us.” Customers certainly want greater consolidation, but the necessary level of cooperation between huge media outlets required to make it happen will likely not be forthcoming willingly.
Max
Max is a subscription video streaming service that gives access to the full HBO library, along with exclusive Max Originals. There are hubs for content from TLC, HGTV, Food Network, Discovery, TCM, Cartoon Network, Travel Channel, ID, and more. Watch hit series like “The Last of Us,” “House of the Dragon,” “Succession,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” and more. Thanks to the B/R Sports add-on, users can watch NBA, MLB, NHL, March Madness, and NASCAR events.