The bundle is undergoing an evolution.
Though the traditional pay-TV bundle is under severe stress amid rising costs and the stripping away of some key content, consumers now have many options thanks to the rise of direct-to-consumer premium streaming services. And those options aren't limited to just video streaming – consumers are also spending their hard-earned dollars on other types of Internet-delivered services focused on music, gaming, self-care (think Calm) and productivity (think Microsoft 360).
In many cases consumers subscribe to the services on a standalone basis, creating a management and control issue that can be overwhelming and lead to subscription fatigue or overload.
UK-based Bango is working with cable operators, telcos and other service providers on simplifying, streamlining and centralizing the subscription ecosystem. The telco arena is a relatively new area for Bango and its software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, but the company has already notched deals with Verizon (for its +play offering) and Australia's Optus, enabling the telcos' customers to buy and manage a wide range of Internet-delivered subscription services via a centralized hub.
"We call it superbundling," Giles Tongue, Bango's VP of marketing, explains on the Light Reading Podcast. "It's a distribution channel which gives the content partners massive reach by accessing all of the telcos' subscribers … We sit in the middle of making all of that really easy because it can get quite complex, managing all those different streams of information."
For a lightly edited transcript, click the closed caption button in the video toolbar. If you'd like to skip around and listen, here are some topics covered:
A review of Bango and its focus on streamlining and simplifying "superbundles" for telco partners (2:00)
How centrally managed superbundles can help telcos gain and retain customers (5:28)
How Bango forges the links between telcos and dozens of subscription services rather than requiring consumers to purchase them on a standalone basis (6:45)
A review of recent research indicating that a sizable portion of consumers don't realize how much they are spending on subscriptions each month – and paradoxically that they might actually spend more on subscriptions if they had a centralized way to manage them (10:30)
Some key differences regarding how Verizon and Optus are approaching the superbundle (13:55)
More details on Bango's SaaS-based business model and near-term priorities (17:05)
A look at the competition Bango faces (22:40)
What does the future of the superbundle look like? (25:15)
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— Jeff Baumgartner, Senior Editor, Light Reading