One is to license content to other platforms more frequently. This could help services generate additional revenue while addressing content fragmentation. However, small and niche services have to walk a fine line when it comes to sharing the titles that make their services stand out to current and potential subscribers.
Offering discounts if users link their streaming subscription to another subscription, such as home Internet or mobile service, is said to help streaming companies reduce cancellations. Streaming services can extract more value from this strategy by targeting younger audiences by offering more bundles with services such as music, games or food delivery services.
“[T]Current packages offered by media companies may miss the mark as younger subscribers look for broader ecosystems across categories. Bottom line: Bundles have become commonplace, but they have yet to keep pace with consumer expectations, which have become increasingly personal,” Deloitte said in a blog post in August.
Streaming services can also get better at helping subscribers discover content, which could help the services drive subscriptions. In Gracenote’s State of Play 2025 survey of 3,000 “consumers” in the US, Brazil, France, Germany, Mexico and the UK, 49 percent of respondents said they “are willing to cancel a service due to difficulty finding what to watch.”
Some services are already leveraging generative AI chatbots and other technologies to help users find new content. However, the challenge of creating reliable content discovery that people enjoy using extends beyond streaming services, including smart TV operating system owners, marketers, and artificial intelligence companies.
As streaming mergers advance, customers risk higher prices and less diversity in ownership of countless beloved shows, movies, games, books and franchises.
Today, completely boycotting Disney means boycotting numerous streaming services, networks, franchises and theme parks. With more streaming services joining together, it will be harder to protest and prevent services that make unpleasant decisions, such as raising prices or canceling a show because of the views expressed by the host.
