1. Verizon Moves Closer To A Streaming Bundle

Verizon announced that it would be launching something called PlusPlay, which from a certain angle, looks and sounds a whole lot like a bundle, only minus the discounts.

The plan, which in its current form more closely resembles Amazon Channels, allows Verizon’s mobile and FIOS customers the option of using a single sign-on to subscribe to (and unsubscribe from) a range of services from Netflix and Disney+ to Peleton, The Athletic and the Calm wellness app.

Mixing mediums isn’t all that revolutionary—Hulu and Spotify had a deal several years ago, but the channel store part is interesting in that Verizon’s plan, clearly articulated on its consumer-facing home page, is to get you to sign up for fixed 5G broadband to the home, which, could conceivably be bundled together with a number of services from PlusPlay, all for a decent discount if you sign up for a full year.

Why It Matters

We’ve been banging on about The Great Rebundling for years, and the various MVPDs seemed to be the logical starting point for this, given that their goal is to create as much stickiness as possible. 

Verizon, which needs to convince people that fixed 5G to the home is indeed a viable and stable competitor to cable broadband, would seem well positioned to be the first one into the pool.

But it’s not Verizon that’s going to need the benefits of a bundle. As the recent Antenna study on churn points out, there is a whole lot of churn going on in Flix Town. This is a problem for many reasons, but key among them is that in order to sell advertising, the various ad-supported Flixes need to be able to tell their customers that X number of people will indeed see their ads six months from now. This is not all that easy to do if your subscriber numbers keep waxing and waning.

Enter the The New Bundle, which will combine various SVOD and AVOD services along with apps like Peleton and Spotify, plus gaming and news subscriptions, all for a 10% to 20% discount over month-to-month prices.

Provided it is designed correctly, consumers, most of whom hate managing all those subscriptions, will also love it for the discounted pricing and ability to get broadband and TV from the same provider on the same bill, while the Flixes and app owners will love it for the stability it gives to their audience numbers. They may have to share some (most? all?) of the subscriber data with the MVPD, but as competition heats up and the U.S. market gets saturated, cutting back on churn will be a major priority, as will getting their name in front of forgetful consumers. (The savings in marketing dollars alone will likely be worth it.)

Verizon is in a particularly good position to be a New Bundler. They are the largest mobile provider in the US, which means they can reach a sizable number of people. They also have a solid, well-liked wired network in FIOS, and have proven themselves open to third party providers like YouTube TV. 

But mostly because they are trying to sell 5G broadband to the home and combining that with a streaming bundle play would give them a really good sales pitch.

While I have read some observers scoff at the idea of Verizon doing any kind of content play, that makes no sense. The ancien regime is gone, wafted away on their golden parachutes after years of making one boneheaded decision after another. More importantly, this is not a content play. It’s a bundling play and MVPDs are very good at bundling plays.

One other benefit is that it will allow them to get yet another step ahead of AT&T, a company currently reeling from its own boneheaded content acquisition deals that is still licking its wounds and trying to regroup.

There will, of course, be questions about how and where Verizon is using both the data they get from their mobile customers and the data they get from their new bundle. That’s on them to figure out, but it’s certainly something that, if handled correctly (e.g., putting consumer privacy first) should not be a deal breaker and may even prove to be a selling point.

What You Need To Do About It

If you’re Verizon, I’ve just written a whole treatise on why you should look to get in the business of offering actual bundles and how not to muck up the privacy parts of it. You’re welcome.

If you’re one of the other MVPDs, this can work for you too. You don’t have to give up your current pay TV packages and you might even experiment with offering hybrid bundles with smaller linear pay TV packages, Flixes and non-TV apps. Call it giving the people what they want.

If you’re one of the Flixes and you are worried about churn, this might be something you urge on the MVPDs. Consumers have been trained to think of broadband and TV as coming from the same provider and many will take the savings over the convenience of monthly contracts. Provided you can still get viewership data about programming and ads out of it, it seems to be a win all around.

If you’re a consumer and hate having to manage all those subscriptions, hang in there. Help may be on the way.

2. Will Apple’s MLB Deal Include Ads?

Apple, which is slowly but surely starting to add some heft to the bare bones of Apple TV+, just signed a significant deal with Major League baseball which will see them broadcasting two games every Friday night in their own version of Friday NIght Lights.

It’s a giant leap for Apple and for streaming sports in general, as the tech needed to stream live events is rather advanced and not everyone nails it.

And while we have much faith in Apple’s ability to execute on that front, a bigger question remains: what will Apple do about all that dead time?  Will they run ads, even if they’re just promos for Ted Lasso and other Apple TV shows, or will they let the announcers just keep on blathering

Why It Matters

If you’ve ever seen an MLB game, you’ll know there is a lot of dead time. Like a serious lot of dead time. As in warming up and bringing in a new relief pitcher can easily eat up a full five minutes or longer.

My gut is that Apple will start off just letting the announcers blather on. That said, I would not be surprised if they started slipping in promos for their shows, as most consumers don’t really consider those to be “ads.” (Mostly, I suspect, because they are far, far more entertaining than your average TV commercial and don’t seem to be trying to sell you anything.)

Will the next step, as some observers have suggested, be running ads for Apple products like iPhones, Macbooks and Airpods? For MLB and/or the teams in the game? Public service ads?

Maybe, but I sort of doubt it. 

Ads seem to be a very un-Apple-like play and an iPhone ad still reads far more like an ad than a Ted Lasso promo.

OTOH, if you’ve ever had to sit through ten minutes of announcers blathering while a relief pitcher warms up, you might yearn for the simple pleasures of the latest iPhone ad.

Apple certainly has all sorts of data around their users but they’ve been very adamant about letting consumers know that they are not in any way using that data to target them—it’s a key Apple selling point. Which is why their play will likely be contextual.

There’s a very specific audience for Friday night baseball double-headers and Apple can promote shows and possibly products based on that, while also playing up the local angle for the teams that are playing that night.

Still, anything beyond ads for their other shows, even PSAs, seems so blatantly un-Apple. 

And it’s not like they need the money.

What You Need To Do About It

If you’re Apple, think long and hard about how you are going to fill all that dead time. It can get incredibly boring waiting for that relief pitcher to warm up. So even if it’s not advertising, you’ll want to have a Plan B.

If you’re Major League Baseball, it’s probably in your interest to help Apple come up with that Plan B. Lest you reinforce the notion that baseball is indeed a very boring game.

If you’re one of Apple’s competitors, hope that they do start running ads. It would be a bad move on their part and knock them off the moral high ground. Which ultimately would be very good for you. (Bwah hah hah hah hah and all that.)