Welcome:
I hope everyone is preparing themselves for the unofficial start of summer this weekend. We have plans to go to my in-law’s and I am hoping and praying for good weather so that we can take their boat out. Whatever you are doing - or if you’re taking the time to do nothing - I hope it’s a great time,
One Big Trend: The Rebundling is Upon Us
Photo by Ryutaro Uozumi on Unsplash
We’ve known this time was coming, but with two new bundles being announced recently and the reveal of the official name for the sports bundle (Venu), it seems we are all systems go on The Great Rebundling.
The individual streaming services that promised to give us just what we wanted at a manageable price have proven to be a little lacking. When Wall Street turned sour on subscriber numbers alone and started to demand these services become profitable, they had to cut costs and raise prices. That’s not a workable formula for long term success. With all the streamers - with the exception of top dog Netflix - facing similar issues, they started calling each other.
First it was to loan out content, a return to the ways of the past and an admission that creating all your own content and always keeping it exclusive to one service was not the only way forward. In a way, that was one of the first real signs that a rebundling was near. They started with sharing content, and now the streamers have decided to share customers, too.
Truthfully, there are about a zillion bundles out there of one sort or another. It’s not a good use of time to explore them all and explain how you get Paramount+ as part of a Walmart+ subscription, so we’re just going to zero in on what I estimate are the three most significant deals. Let’s look at each of these, what they provide to customers, and how they measure up to the other options.
The first is the marriage of Max to the best parts of the Disney bundle. You get Disney+, Hulu, and Max. This is family and general content to the…uh...max (sorry). Hulu also has a Live option, although I don’t believe that is included in this bundle.
The second is StreamSaver, a combination of Netflix, Peacock, and AppleTV+. The inclusion of Netflix here seems like a major coup, as it by far the most dominant service with the lowest churn. For Peacock and AppleTV+, being tied to Netflix is a significant advantage to their business. But there are some major caveats here. For one, this is only available to Xfinity broadband subscribers. It’s really part of a much larger bundle that includes an Internet subscription. Secondly, it’s the ad-supported tiers of Netflix and Peacock. If you’re averse to advertising, this is not the plan for you. At just $15 per month, though, it is almost certainly going to draw an audience.
The last rebundling is Venu, the combination of the sports content from Warner Bros. Discovery, Fox, and ESPN. I wrote about this extensively back in March.
Long story short, I’m very bearish on this service. It’s not that it doesn’t include all the sports, it’s that it doesn’t include huge swaths of very highly sought after sports. And if NBC does indeed pull the NBA away from Warner Bros. Discovery, which is reportedly looking quite likely, then Venu will have even less.
Venu is still quite a ways off. We won’t know exactly what it’ll look like for a while. While I have my doubts, we have to give it an incomplete for now.
StreamSaver is actually set to be available next week. While I have concerns with the ad-supported tier piece of the equation, my guess is that they will eventually expand the partnership and allow you to upgrade, but they’d like to get folks in the door first. If that never happens, and Netflix stays committed to beefing up the number of viewers on the ad tier, then this offering is just ok. If it does eventually allow ad-free upgrades, it could be a huge success.
The bundle of Max, Hulu, and Disney+ is in a similar situation. If they include Hulu + Live TV as an option, you could see this bundle taking share from players like YouTube TV as well as the other pure streamers. If not, then this too seems like a middling player, another bundle that exists to please shareholders as much as it serves the customer.
That brings me to the thought that I can’t push away. Do any of these bundles have a real purpose? Are any of them actually going to simplify entertainment for the customer? If you are any of these players - again, with the exception of Netflix, who is doing just fine - you have to get really serious about figuring out why you exist. What do your existing customers want from you and how might you expand on that to gain new subscribers? How can your service thrive? Become more than just a way to watch the flavor of the week only to be cancelled 3 weeks later.
I’m not saying this can’t be done with bundling. As down on it as I am, the Venu bundle is by far the most purposeful attempt. How can these other companies position themselves as empowering the customer and making their lives easier? These organizations need to put some real thought behind this and communicate to the public what that reason is.
Why should you care?: Bundling for the sake of bundling and creating corporate synergies and blah blah blah is not going to work. It’s a boring retread and it’s how we got to the streaming era in the first place. Companies need to be proactive and purposeful as they approach The Great Rebundling. Those that do will find success.
Oh, and Netflix too. They’ll also find success.
Wrestling Luke Fact of the Week:
This week, I’m going to write something about myself in this section. As part of my day job, I work on marketing for Chase Freedom. We recently debuted a new series with Kevin Hart and his daughter Heaven talking about credit, why it’s important to build credit, and how to use it responsibly. While it covers an crucial topic, it is very entertaining.
You can check out the videos here. I’d love it if you did, and if you watch please take a minute to let me know what you think!
Have a great rest of your week.