The streaming wars have reached a fever pitch with more ads, higher prices, and greater competition as platforms scramble to reach profitability and capture paying users.
With so many choices now available to consumers, the media landscape seems to be reverting to the cable TV bundle of years past — the very thing that streaming set out to undo.
On Monday, telecom giant Verizon (VZ) announced it will offer a $10 bundle for the ad-supported plans of both Netflix (NFLX) and Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max (WBD) streaming services, yielding more than 40% in savings.
The offer, available for Verizon’s myPlan customers, will begin on Thursday. The company will also offer an additional bundle that combines the ad-free Disney+ plan along with the ad-supported tiers of Hulu, ESPN+, Netflix, and Max for $20 a month.
The news comes after The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Paramount Global (PARA) and Apple (AAPL) are in early-stage talks to bundle their streaming services at a discount. Paramount declined to comment while Apple did not respond to Yahoo Finance’s request.
The concept of bundling isn’t new. Companies in the space have recently been doing it with their own services. Apple for instance offers Apple One, which combines Apple TV+ with other services like Apple Music and Apple Arcade. The bundle launched globally in late 2020.
On Wednesday, Disney, which also has been offering a bundle with Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+, officially began its domestic rollout of a one-app experience that incorporates Hulu content via Disney+ — a similar play to Paramount’s Showtime combination as well as the integration of HBO Max and Discovery+, which both merged their respective services earlier this year.
There have also been third-party bundles, with the ad-supported Paramount+ plan automatically offered to Walmart+ members. Meanwhile, customers of Instacart+ receive Peacock’s ad-supported plan at no additional cost. Paramount also struck a partnership with Delta earlier this year.
“Everybody’s trying to come up with something proprietary,” Mark Boidman, partner and global head of media at Solomon Partners, told Yahoo Finance of the bundle. “When you can bundle something together at an attractive price in the minds of consumers then that makes sense.”
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