Apple TV+ and Paramount+ each reportedly lost 7% of their subscribers in October, and are said to be in early talks to offer users a bundle of both services.
Paramount+ has previously made a similar deal with Showtime. With a bundle, users have an option to get two services for more than the cost of one, but less than the previous cost of the two.
Apple TV+ According to the Wall Street Journal and subscriber-measurement firm Antenna, a bundle decreases the chance that a user will cancel a streamer. Reportedly, users of a single streamer may binge-watch a particular series and then cancel before the following month.
While not specifically stated, presumably users with a bundle are more likely to move to binge watching other shows, because there is a greater number and variety available to them.
Even Netflix, whose library is rivaled only by Disney+, has already become part of a bundle. Netflix is now available alongside Max -- which was itself originally HBO Max and Discovery+ -- in a deal with Verizon.
Antenna says that cancelling users of Apple TV+ and Paramount+, or the "churn rate," was 7% in October 2023. That compares to an industry average of 5.7%.
While streamers themselves do not report their churn rate, Antenna claims that Disney has seen fewer cancellations since it has been offering Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN in a bundle.
Apple itself already bundles Apple TV+ in its Apple One service, where it is sold in a package together with Apple Music, Apple Arcade, and Apple News. Again according to Antenna, Apple One has an unspecified but far lower churn rate than Apple TV+ on its own.
Bundles may be useful to Apple because its Apple TV+ library of shows remains one of the smallest in the industry. A bundle would also be more attractive to subscribers, which may be particularly important after Apple -- and practically all streamers -- have been raising their prices.
Apple TV+ may bundle with Paramount+ to cut subscriber losses