Antenna Insights On The Subscription Economy

In recent months, there’s been a steady drumbeat of pay TV headline stories, including the short-lived rise and fall of Venu, Disney’s planned majority stake in Fubo, and the upcoming streaming service launches of long-time pay TV stalwarts CNN, FOX, and ESPN. A significant shift that has come out of all of this change is the ability for pay TV operators to offer so-called “skinny bundles,” more focused packages which charge consumers only for the channels they choose.

When it comes to demographics, there’s not much difference between ad-free and ad-supported subscribers. But what about customer loyalty? Are ad-free subscribers more loyal than those who opt into ad-supported plans?

Distribution channels play an important role in streaming. Beyond direct distribution, in which consumers sign-up for their preferred service and manage plans and payment directly with the streamer, many services are available through third-party distributors.

Ad-supported plans are available for the majority of the Premium SVOD services Antenna measures, and data shows that U.S. consumers are growing increasingly comfortable with advertising in streaming environments. By the end of 2024, Antenna estimates 45% of Premium SVOD subscriptions were ad-supported, up +9pts YoY.

Premium SVOD services have been under pressure to improve profitability and continue to deliver growth, and, in many cases, with smaller budgets than in years past. One tactic streamers have employed in service of profitability is increasing prices.

When Disney and Warner Brothers Discovery announced plans for a streaming bundle combining the Disney-owned Disney+ and Hulu with WBD-owned Max, it was still an open question whether or not the joint offering would gain traction. Fast forward and total Disney-Max Bundle Subscriptions reached 2.2M by year’s end, with the inter-company bundle accounting for a significant portion of sign-ups for all the services included in the package.