Bundling and Balancing: TiVo's latest video trends report highlights the shift toward industry consolidation

As the streaming industry struggles with economic headwinds, TiVo's Q2 2024 Video Trends report highlights a major shift in the way consumers engage with their entertainment subscriptions. According to the report, which surveyed over 4,000 adults in the U.S. and Canada, people are scaling back on their entertainment spending and preferring bundled services and ad-supported models over individual subscriptions.

As the average number of services drops from 10.9 in 2023 to 9.1 in 2024, consumers are consolidating their streaming options while seeking a rich entertainment experience. Despite this reduction, TiVo's results suggest that viewers have not reduced the time they spend watching content. Instead, they have turned to ad-supported video on demand (AVOD) services and free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) services, often bundled with subscription video on demand (SVOD) services to control costs without sacrificing their entertainment needs.

Scott Maddux, vice president of global content strategy at That’s what they’re doing now.” We see where consumers are willing to draw boundaries. Now these same OTT service providers are beginning to recognize the advertising and monetary benefits of creating packages with their subscription video-on-demand, ad-supported video-on-demand and free ad-supported television service options.”

Advertising-supported services are becoming increasingly important

The report shows that ad-supported tiers are becoming increasingly popular, with 64% of respondents now using them, a significant increase from last year. Consumers are increasingly willing to view advertising in exchange for lower prices. This growing tolerance for advertising comes with one important condition: advertisers must do their best. The quality of advertising has improved and it is less intrusive, making the idea of ​​AVOD and FAST a more acceptable and even desirable option.

TiVo's data underscores the potential for service providers to retain customers by bundling services. Around 62% of respondents said they would be more likely to stick with their broadband provider if it offered additional streaming options. The bundling trend is increasingly becoming a strategy for companies to reduce customer churn while increasing overall value.

Other key takeaways from TiVo's Q2 2024 Video Trends report

The report also looks at other key trends that reflect how consumers interact with their streaming services and discover new content:

• The discovery dilemma: Nearly 85% of respondents said they tend to browse extensively before deciding on a movie to watch. Nearly 73% access more than one app in a typical viewing session to find something they like, highlighting the challenge of navigating the vast content available across different platforms.
• Organic recommendations still apply: Despite the proliferation of algorithm-driven suggestions, 50% of respondents still consider word of mouth from friends to be more reliable, with 40% also citing ads that run during other shows as effective ways to discover content.
• Slight decline in social video usage: Usage of social media and user-generated content platforms for watching videos has declined slightly, from 85% in spring 2023 to 80% in Q2 2024. YouTube remains the top platform for this type of content, closely followed by TikTok.
• Amazon Rules for TVOD: Transactional video on demand (TVOD) usage has declined among pay TV subscribers, falling from 54.3% in the second quarter of 2023 to 45.7% this year. However, TVOD usage among broadband-only subscribers has remained stable, with Amazon Prime leading the way as the top TVOD service, followed by YouTube.

These findings provide a more comprehensive understanding of how consumer preferences and behavior are shaping the future of entertainment, with greater reliance on organic recommendations and bundled services becoming the norm.

A new era of streaming strategy

TiVo's results indicate a major shift in the entertainment landscape. The once-expensive SVOD model is being replaced by a hybrid approach that prioritizes customer retention over maximizing monthly revenue. The bundled experience – combining ad-supported tiers with premium subscriptions – could be the future of streaming, giving customers the content they love without overwhelming them with individual subscriptions. As Maddux explained, “Allowing content providers to monetize across the spectrum from subscriptions to ad-supported content helps keep their customers under one roof.”