20% Of Streaming Subscriptions Delivered Through Telco Bundling in 2023

Bundling will make up almost half of subscriptions in some regions within five years

20% of all streaming video subscriptions are now sold through bundling partnerships with telco companies, reaching 25% by 2028. In certain regions such as Latin America, close to 50% of streaming video subscriptions will come from telco bundles within the next 5 years.

Global revenue from video, music and other subscription-based services sold via telcos will total $24.8bn this year and grow to $42.8bn in 2027.

That’s according to a new analyst-led report ‘Super Bundling: What Telco Leadership Needs to Know About Securing a Wider Role in the Subscriptions Market’, released by Omdia and Bango.

Tapping the streaming market

The report finds that the global subscription streaming market is maintaining its upward trajectory. By bundling streaming subscriptions with their core offerings, Omdia suggests that telcos can position themselves at the centre of this high-growth, high-value market. Earlier this year, Juniper Research similarly found the market is expected to grow by a sizable $268 billion within the next 3 years alone.

A recent Bango survey indicates that telco leaders are already recognising the market potential themselves, with 71% seeing major gains in customer acquisition and retention from incorporating streaming bundles into their offerings. Streaming video on-demand (SVOD) subscriptions now rank as the number one bundle for telcos looking to boost acquisition and retention.

The quid pro quo of streaming bundles is apparent: while telcos retain and gain customers, content providers tap new audiences. At the end of March, Omdia identified over 1,600 partnerships in existence between telco companies and major streaming brands, the most popular of which were with Paramount+, Disney+, HBO Max and Netflix. Omdia estimates that 16.5% of video streaming revenue this year will originate from telco bundles, climbing to 21.5% by 2027.

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The rise of super bundling

Though the need to create new revenue streams has been revealed as a ‘high priority’ for 68% of telcos, streaming partnerships alone may not be enough to get providers out of the woods. As it currently stands, the situation is challenging. Telcos face saturated markets, declining revenue per user and non-stop churn. While network traffic will grow by 219% in 5 years, revenues are only projected to grow by 14.6%.

‘Super Bundling’ has emerged as a new revenue stream for telcos — aggregating hard-to-manage subscriptions into single platforms. It also enables content providers to reach new audiences at much greater scale than through one-to-one partnerships.

Commenting on the report, Anil Malhotra, Bango co-founder, said: “With a fifth of SVOD subscriptions now sold through telco bundles, it’s clear there’s a paradigm shift under way in the streaming market. We’re seeing the emergence of a win-win-win scenario that benefits SVOD providers, telcos and consumers alike.

“However, streaming is only one aspect of the Super Bundling phenomenon that Omdia has highlighted in their report. Super Bundling content hubs like Verizon +play and Optus SubHub go well beyond video, offering subscriptions for music, health, productivity and more.

“There are compelling market drivers at work here, not least consumer subscription fatigue and telcos’ urgent need to differentiate and boost revenue. Super Bundling is not only a churn buster — the more services telcos get customers to subscribe to, the more stickiness they create — but can also turn into a revenue stream in its own right. For the 100s of companies out there already bundling, Super Bundling is the natural evolution.”

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