Netflix, Amazon and Hulu Could Be Bundled Into Digital TV Packages

Just when you thought the a-la-carte way of purchasing your favorite networks and shows was the way to go — after giving up the hefty cable bill — consumers may be looking to bundle, yet again.

“Bundling is likely on the horizon as consumers may eventually have streaming-platform fatigue and will not want to subscribe to dozens of SVOD services separately,” Kayla Hegedus — an industry data scientist with Parrot Analytics — told The Hollywood Reporter. “Consumers can already get premium cable platforms as add-ons through Hulu and Amazon, so bundling has already started.”

Anthony Wood, CEO and founder of ROKU, now offers his customers an opportunity to bundle between 25 different networks like Showtime, Starz and Epix. The beauty of it all is the customer gets to pay it on one single bill.

Although popular streaming services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon were left off the list, it’s because of Netflix that traditional television is becoming a thing of the past.

“The levels of investment we are seeing from Netflix and Amazon are only topped by Disney ($11.84 billion) and NBC ($10.27 billion),” said Tim Westcott, senior principle analyst at IHS Technology.

Netflix and Amazon are now going head-to-head with major networks like HBO and CBS with $4.9 billion and $2.6 billion, and combined, are spending more than Germany who spends $7.3 billion on programming.

Steve Burke, CEO of NBCUniversal, hinted that the Comcast-owned company could compete with the online streaming services, potentially launching one of their own in 2019.

“While you all go off to relax, swim or ski,” he wrote, “Maybe, just maybe, next year we will announce our plan for OTT.”

But again, who wants to pay for more than one streaming service at a time? Bundling only makes sense right?

Westcott says, “It’s premature to declare that the era of linear TV is already over,” however, numbers don’t lie.

In 2015 there were 205.4 million traditional paying subscribers in the U.S. However, it’s estimated that by 2022, the number may fall as low as 169.7 million, not to mention the already high demand for Netflix original programming.

In 2017, Hulu racked in a whopping 12 million views on just one movie. The 2015 film Daddy’s Home starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg, drew in an average of 33,000 streams per day, marking this movie the most watched film of the year on the online media giant.

Hulu is already on board with bundling options offering HBO+ and Cinemax for an extra $20 per month. Or, if you use Spotify Premium, customers can be added to Hulu’s Limited Commercials plan for only $12.99 a month.

Other streaming services like Amazon are giving the bundling idea a shot and Apple may be working on the same thing.