Diverse bundling strategies used by major video streaming platforms

New findings from Omdia’s ‘Bundling’s Impact on the Global Streaming Market’ report reveal that Netflix maintains significant advantages due to its ‘first-among-equals’ status within the streaming sector. This valuable position allows Netflix access to direct subscription from customers and avoid revenue sharing with platforms such as iOS or Google.

Omdia’s research highlights that about 98% of Netflix’s bundled subscribers are from pay TV, telco, and wholesale deals. In contrast, Amazon Prime Video relies more on its own ecosystem, with only 10% of its bundled subscribers coming from external deals, while 85% co-subscribers to the Prime bundle.

Omdia Principal Analyst and lead author of the report Sarah Henschel, commented: “The delivery of paid online video subscriptions has evolved far beyond a simple one-to-one purchase agreement between a customer and an operator. We wanted to investigate this in some depth to discover more about how the streamers are making the most of the bundling options open to them.”

The research breaks down bundling types across pay-TV and telco operators, online channel aggregators, credit card and banking services, consumer goods and devices, and co-subscription services.

Henschel added: “We already knew that Netflix pioneered the pay-TV and telco partnership space in the 2010s, aiding in reducing churn and expanding with media partners. But we’ve also highlighted that HBO Max, or now Max, uniquely grew most of its bundled subscribers from legacy pay-TV partnerships and wholesale linear deals. Disney+ focused on a combination of pay-TV, telco and device deals with Disney+ Hotstar in India and US Disney/Hulu/ESPN bundles boosting co-subscription shares. Apple TV+ utilized Apple One co-subscriptions and device partnership discounts to scale the service. It has also sought telco bundles such as its T-Mobile deals in the US. Today, bundling opportunities are utilized not only for scale, but to reduce churn and focus on owning data and customer relationships. Effective bundling today requires a symbiotic relationship to deliver value.”

Adam Thomas, Omdia’s Senior Principal Analyst for TV & Video said: “While these remain the most common methods for bundling SVOD services with other media and utility packages, Omdia’s new research has found that bundling initiatives can now take many forms. These exist in both digital and physical formats, with media and non-media-focused partners, and can come with or without direct-carrier billing capabilities.”

Principal Analyst Tony Gunnarsson added: “Operators have historically collaborated with streamers for next-generation telco bundles, but the future of streaming extends beyond this. Services are now being marketed and resold across various sectors, including banking, airlines and consumer goods and services. The era of streaming as a standalone direct-to-consumer proposition is over signaling streaming’s status as an essential household service and underlining the industry’s overall maturity.” Omdia