From craft beer to TV shows, it seems there’s a subscription for everything these days. As I explore in my new book Streaming Wars, this explosion of choice has reshaped our culture—fragmenting audiences and changing how we experience media. Yet this isn’t just my take. In conversations with industry analysts, streaming executives, and digital strategists, a clear picture emerges: aside from live sports, we’re no longer gathering around the same screens at the same time.

That fragmentation isn’t going away—but it is driving a new wave of strategy. To combat subscription fatigue and stay relevant, both streaming and publishing companies are experimenting with bundles, sometimes even partnering with longtime competitors. These partnerships are less about bold innovation and more about survival: simplifying a cluttered landscape for consumers, while helping providers hold on to their audiences.

Tom Harrington, Head of Television and Enders Analysis, told DCN: “You had this sort of a decade where the impetus, the direction of travel, was doing things alone.” This let companies take control of their IP and have a direct relationship with customers. However, “that was never going to be sustainable for most businesses in the long run, because most people don’t need 789 different services doing quite similar things.”

Christy Tanner, a digital media veteran who has helped create streaming businesses for CBS and others, and who currently chairs women’s sport focused streamer Swerve, shares a similar view. She believes that “from a consumer perspective, the space is too complicated. It’s a nightmare for consumers to navigate.” As well as the rising costs, “it’s just too hard to find what you’re looking for.” Anyone who has had to jump between three or four services to uncover the show they want will surely agree. Rebundling, if the services are consolidated into a single app, can help with this.

Jaanika Juntson, Research Manager at Ampere Analysis adds: “Rebundling – where streaming platforms, after a period of competing for individual dominance, pool together and form bundled service offerings not vastly different to those found on pay TV – is continuing to play a key role in streaming services’ subscriber growth.” Essentially, these companies need to work together to keep drawing viewers in. Working with rivals can lead to tricky situations though. NBC and YouTube only recently ended a fraught negotiation, with NBC programming now back on the popular platform.

In the end, though, it is a numbers game. “If you are not in the top tier of streaming services in terms of number of subscribers, then there’s not enough money in the world that’s going to propel you into the top tier,” says Tanner. “If subscribers are only going to subscribe to five, let’s say, if you’re number six or seven, you have to bundle.”

Bundling with friends and enemies

As a result of the above, we are seeing various deals done. In the UK, ITV and Disney struck an arrangement whereby some of the other’s content would be available on the rival platform – ITVX and Disney+ respectively. Making the announcement, Kevin Lygo, Managing Director of Media and Entertainment at ITV, described the strategic partnership as a “mutually beneficial alliance,” adding that it “allows us to show our complementary audiences a specially selected collection of titles.” The argument is that strategic rebundling makes everyone – company and customer alike – a winner.

Elsewhere, Netflix is hosting live programming from TF1 in France. More dramatically, Disney’s ESPN bundled with Fox One, a product offering both complimentary sports rights and Fox News.

Disney is also at the heart of perhaps the most compelling streaming bundle. It is offering Disney+, Hulu and the new ESPN app for one monthly payment. There are various options. But the most straightforward bundle, which has Disney+ (no ads), Hulu (No ads) and ESPN Select, costs $26.99 (rising to $29.99 later this month.) If you want that bundle with ESPN Unlimited, it’s $35.99 a month. The Unlimited Premium version, which removes ads from Disney+ and Hulu, costs $44.99.

This bundle illustrates a few things. Firstly, The Walt Disney company is in an incredibly powerful position, given the assets it holds. Secondly, it’s lot easier to offer a bundle if the company own all the services within it. Thirdly, rebundling doesn’t totally clear up the landscape for the consumer. I counted five different bundles that include all three services and a further two that include just Disney+ and Hulu. There are also options that replace ESPN with HBO Max. You need to login to all the separate apps too. Are you keeping up at the back?

As we see with the Fox and ESPN tie-up, companies not under the same parent company can also bundle. “The rationale around that is always incremental reach,” says Harrington.  For instance, in the UK, customers can buy a package that includes Sky Cinema and Paramount+. The telco’s are part of the picture too. Three is offering access to Paramount+. I got Netflix included in my internet and TV bundle from EE and can get Disney+ for free via an annual Uber One subscription.

Building cross-business relationships is no easy task, especially in the world of live sports. Not only do the parties involved have to agree, but so do the regulators. In January, Venu, a long-discussed streaming product that would have brought fans sports coverage from ESPN, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery, collapsed after legal challenge from Fubo. In the end, Disney ended up pairing its Hulu + Live TV business with Fubo.

Bundling the news

It is not only streaming services getting into bundling, however. Written news outlets are getting into bundles too.

Han-Menno Depeweg, Chief Digital Officer at Mediahuis Group outlined how his firm is bundling news outlets that it runs in Holland and Belgium. “We’re trying to bundle national news with regional news and vice versa,” he says. If someone in Holland takes out a subscription to a Dutch national newspaper that Mediahuis runs, they also have the option to bundle that in with a regional outlet. (These bundles cannot be done across borders i.e. you cannot bundle a Dutch publication with a Belgium one.)

Depeweg explains that the company does this so that one of the limited number of subscriptions a user has is with Mediahuis, and “if you can read the regional news from your region within our ecosystem, that means that you will probably stay a subscriber longer.”

The tricky thing here is setting the right price. “Pricing here is it’s mostly about cannibalization,” notes Depeweg. You don’t want to set the price point of a bundle at such a level that it makes paying for your other products unappealing. In the case of Mediahuis, “you need a Plus subscription just to get a higher tier to get into the ecosystem, and that way we leverage the subscription pricing.”

The New York Times has been hugely successful in bundling its products. From combining games, cooking and news, to making The Athletic and Wirecutter part of its subscription offering, The Gray Lady has become expert at leveraging all the assets at its disposal to drive customer and revenue growth.

Bundling won’t reverse fragmentation—but it might just keep audiences from checking out completely. As attention becomes harder to earn, simplicity might be the smartest bet in the streaming wars ahead.

The path forward is clear: make bundling work smarter, not just bigger. For media leaders, this means rethinking siloed business models, pricing strategies, and even long-standing rivalries. It has to be about providing audiences with more value for less hassle. The companies that deliver that will be the ones that remain essential, even in an age of endless choice.