One of the big trends of late is the reemergence of the bundle. Consumers can not only bundle individual streaming services together, but they can also bundle streaming services with a live TV package. New data now suggests half of consumers prefer bundling live TV and on-demand streaming.
What You Need to Know
- Over half of consumers (51%) prefer packages that combine live TV with on-demand streaming services.
- Pro-bundling consumers are split between wanting a traditional, full live TV package (27%) and a skinny bundle (24%).
- Nearly a quarter of consumers (22%) remain unsure of what an ideal video service package includes.
According to the latest consumer research from Parks Associates, 51% prefer a package that combines live TV with their streaming services. While this represents just over half of the market, these pro-bundling consumers differ slightly in the type of live TV package they like to bundle.
For example, while 27% prefer a typical live-TV bundle that includes on-demand streaming services, 24% actually prefer to bundle streaming services with a skinny live TV package.
Regardless of this difference, the data points to a significant number of consumers preferring the general option of bundling.
“Consumers are not necessarily choosing between live TV and streaming. Many want access to both in one package,” said Michael Goodman, Director, Entertainment Research, Parks Associates. “Providers have the opportunity to offer greater flexibility to their consumers while making it easier to access the content they value.”
What could be an important caveat here is that the questioning seemed to specifically focus on “favorite” streaming services.
Considering the current bundling options focus on a few of the most popular streaming services, it remains unclear whether those specific bundles are exactly what consumers are looking for.
Either way, and in comparison to the 27% who prefer a full live TV bundle and the 24% who prefer a skinny live TV bundle, only 10% said they prefer to keep their live TV and on-demand streaming services separate.
Adding to this, only 9% prefer to stream without a live TV package, and 8% prefer only subscribing to a live TV package.
Notably, 22% stated they were unsure how they prefer to consume content online, suggesting almost one-quarter are still unsure whether a live TV package, on-demand streaming services, or bundling, is the best approach.
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