Frequent cancel-and-resubscribe behaviour by consumers is an issue all SVoD services are currently facing: 42% of US streaming subscribers report that they 'regularly subscribe, cancel and resubscribe', according to Ampere’s Media Consumer survey (Q1 2024). But data from Ampere’s SVoD Economics US service shows that bundling streaming services can have a significant impact on mitigating this form of consumer churn.

Disney subscribers, for example, who had previously churned and then returned (aka ‘resubscribers’) to take the Disney+/Hulu/ESPN+ bundle, are 59% less likely to churn within 12 months than those who take Disney+ alone (based on Q1 2023 sign-ups). 

US resubscribers skew younger (aged 18-44), and are more likely to be in family households. They are typically avid media consumers, watching more TV and video each day, stacking more SVoD services, and consuming alternative media formats, such as video games and music services more frequently than the average US consumer. However, this wide media diet also means the cohort is 40% more likely than average to exhibit signs of subscription fatigue and 21% more likely to desire unified access to content across different services (‘aggregation’). Bundles, it seems, can help address such concerns.

More bundles from competing services are on the horizon

The churn mitigation potential of bundling demonstrated by Disney’s case offers optimism to those incumbents now bringing together their nominally competing services; firstly Disney+, Hulu and Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max, and secondly Comcast’s StreamSaver bundle, which brings together Peacock, Netflix and Apple TV+.

Ampere’s Q1 2024 Media Consumer data indicates that just 15% of the current subscriber base of either Disney+, Hulu or Max currently take all three in the household, and just 10% of Comcast mobile, broadband and TV customers subscribing to Peacock, Netflix or Apple TV+ currently take all three. Therefore, there is a significant upsell and churn limitation opportunity for a wide audience, who will benefit from expanded content offered by bundled services at discounted rates. Though the short-term economic implications for the platforms involved are still being worked through, bundling looks set to be a key strategy for the all-important SVoD subscriber retention that has become increasingly the focus for the major services.

Further analysis of the US ‘resubscriber’ cohort and resubscription activity across major SVoD services can be accessed by clients here.