The age of streaming bundles is upon us

Yesterday, Verizon announced an available bundle of Netflix and Max (both with ads) for $10/month with its mobile phone plan myPlan. Netflix’s ad tier normally costs $6.99/month, while Max’s usually costs $9.99/month or $99.99/year.

The age of streaming bundles is upon us. Consumer surveys show many users are paying for streaming services they don’t use, overwhelmed by the number and cost of platforms available, and disgruntled with the fractured ecosystem requiring multiple accounts and billing sources, Variety reports. This has led to an increasing number of bundles:

• Disney already offers a bundle of Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+.
• Apple and Paramount are reportedly discussing bundling their streaming services.
• Warner Bros. Discovery, owner of streaming platform Max, has been open to bundling its Max service with rivals (as evidenced by today’s story).

It’s not just streamers + streamers, or streamers + telco companies, either. Bundles are popping up across other consumer industries. For example, Instacart just announced a free Peacock membership to compete against Walmart and Amazon's video offerings.