Welcome To The Bundle Economy
Or How Bundling Is Reshaping Today's Media Landscape - The Media Odyssey Ep. 11
I’ve been called a bundle nerd by my cohost and I guess I have to plead guilty. I searched the word “bundle” in my Substack and got 39 hits 😅
The interest goes beyond bundling, it’s about aggregation. I’ve written at length about the race of many to become THE super aggregator of choice for consumers. Everyone wants to be in on it, from Broadcasters, Big Tech, CTV Platforms, Retailers, Streamers to Telcos. There is an urgent need for simplicity in consumers’ lives and any company thriving to make things easier for us has my vote.
I was therefore ecstatic when Evan Shapiro and I got a first exclusive look at the latest report by UK Technology company Bango who powers the ultimate subscriptions marketplace. We also got to chat with Bango’s Co-Founder & CMO Anil Malhotra to unpack all the data they gathered in their survey of 5000 US subscribers.
Say hi to “Subscriptions Assemble”:
Snatch the deck here.
I have a soft spot for Telcos in that race and Americans seems to agree:
Granted, I spent 8 years at French telco, Orange, who experimented with all sorts of bundles: from hard bundles (as in you buy your mobile, TV, internet subscription and you get access to Deezer for free) to soft bundles (the same but you choose your additional subscription) but there is more to it:
What Telcos have going for them:
→ Internet, Mobile (we can’t live without)
→ A solid multi-vertical content offering (beyond entertainment)
→ A 1st party data relationship with their customers
→ Multiple touch points on and off platform (stores, sms)
→ Billing which is the biggest weakness of CTV (except for big tech). On most platforms, billing happens off platform leaving customers having to manage their subscriptions on their own.
Billing also facilitate bundles which CTV doesn’t do except for one off operations with one device + one subscription bundles.
What Telcos should work on:
To be a super aggregator, you need to offer a stellar UX and UI with curation, discoverability and personalisation features.
Providers haven’t deployed the technology and commercial strategy to turn their UI into billboards like CTV does, leaving a lot of money on the table.
For years, especially in Europe, providers stayed clear of CTV thinking they could do without, they could resist, they can’t. They need to be device agnostic to ensure they are the go to platform for their customers.
Faster innovation and time to market are a must or fear not to be eaten alive.
Watch our full convo:
We got more platforms here for you.
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Fancy reading more on the topic 👇
That’s it for today but before you go:
