The Rise of Bundle Subscriptions (And What This Means for Telcos)

A recent survey analyzing digital subscription trends has exposed a major consumer shift in online subscriptions and streaming services. The report explores the transition from individual subscriptions to ‘bundles’ - groups of multiple similar services, often sold at a discount. It also reveals that third-party suppliers like telcos and retailers have become the main purchase point for digital subscriptions, rather than directly from the services themselves.  

For many, the accumulation of streaming providers over the last decade has become a double-edged sword. While the potential choice of content is now greater than ever, the current ‘streaming wars’ model means customers can feel pressured to commit to multiple services just to keep up with their favorite shows, sports teams, or hobbies. A typical example is sports video on demand, or SVOD. Different sporting matches, even in the same competition, can be divided among separate broadcasters – Amazon’s recent acquisition of Thursday night NFL coverage, or Netflix’s exclusive US rights to the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup, are recent instances of paid streaming services’ ongoing encroachment on live sports coverage. 

What is a bundle subscription?

Subscription bundles aim to address this streaming fatigue. Increasingly, digital subscriptions are purchased as multi-product groups, rather than individual brands. 

With a bundled service, customers can access a wider range of products through a single payment and avoid juggling multiple bills or missing out on the next must-see show. Despite the drawbacks – namely, higher prices and the likelihood of paying for subscriptions that won’t be used – the convenience of these bundles has struck a chord with subscribers.  

This market transition has generated new opportunities for digital platforms to generate revenue and improve their customer experience. This isn’t limited to streaming services either. Some of the world’s most popular digital subscription services cover everything from retail, like Amazon Prime, to educational apps like Duolingo or telecommunications.

Telcos are one of the biggest providers of bundle subscriptions, offering new customers add-ons for everything from Uber+ to travel eSIMs.

The bundle economy

The report, commissioned by the digital subscription marketplace Bango and carried out in January 2025, details the numbers behind the growing success of bundle subscriptions and explores possible futures for the “bundle economy”. 

The data shows that the average respondent paid for over five subscriptions a year, at least two of which were “indirect”, or purchased as part of a bundle.

 With bundled subscriptions now accounting for over a third of all US subscriptions, trends show a major shift in digital consumer behavior. 

A new entrant is the growing number of AI subscriptions, particularly among the 18–25 bracket. Paid generative AI programs like Chat-GPT Plus, or the AI video generator Runway, are still in their infancy, with different companies often focusing on different generative AI usages, such as research, text, and video creation. As a result, regular users are more inclined to spread their subscriptions across multiple companies to account for each of their strengths and weaknesses.  

This rapid adoption of diverse digital subscription models among young people could indicate that the bundle economy is here to stay: 25% of Gen Z respondents currently pay for a social media subscription. These findings suggest that people are subscribing to a wider range of digital monthly products, far beyond streaming services. Digital platforms that incorporate new services now could be one of the largest beneficiaries of this societal shift.  

With the number of subscription services increasing year-on-year, this trend is forecast to continue across multiple industries. How, then, can digital platforms best adapt and integrate additional services within their offering? 

Who can offer bundle subscriptions?

The term ‘digital subscription’ conjures images of traditional subscription services like online newspapers and magazines, or VOD providers like Netflix. In reality, bundle subscriptions span a vast range of products and services. Digital subscriptions don't just mean digital products; they now cover everything from entertainment and sports to healthcare, education, and food services.

The likelihood of a long-term revenue stream, the likes of which subscriptions offer makes them an enticing addition to many digital platforms’ product suites.

Adding an eSIM service to a digital product

A growing portion of subscription choices are being driven by a need for simplicity, such as a single centralized hub for most monthly services. 

This explains in part why telcos play such a large role in providing digital subscriptions. The relationship between mobile operator and customer is typically long-term.

• For consumers, this means they can manage multiple digital services through a single platform, with a familiar UI, often via a single app and single monthly payment.  

• For businesses, this centralized platform and ease of use is essential to customer retention. The report highlights the growth of subscription fatigue, where consumers are increasingly unlikely to invest in a new product or service, with yet another login, and face yet another separate bill every month.

A single platform for multiple digital services is a straightforward answer to subscription fatigue and offers real value to customers. To do so, however, means incorporating diverse products under a unified UI. 

The same applies to any other digital platform, from banking apps to travel websites. These companies are primed to offer their customers additional services unrelated to their core offering, such as mobile data plans, travel eSIMs, and more, provided that these services are integrated correctly.

The role of telcos in the bundle economy

Telecommunications providers and network operators are a major driving force behind the bundle economy – the majority of respondents received an indirect subscription through their cell phone provider. 

In the hyper-competitive world of telecoms, any value add or differentiating service is a useful tool for attracting new customers and retaining current ones. Verizon, for example, include a range of optional streaming service bundles in their new cell phone plans, underlining the widespread adoption of subscription bundling by even long-established market players. 

This capability isn’t just limited to major telcos. Smaller providers and digital-first brands can also integrate new services to swiftly boost their brand profiles and stand out from the competition. 

For many digital platforms, incorporating any new product requires that specific standards be met: 

• Ideally, a new product, even if sourced from an outside supplier, should be accessible within the platform itself and consistently branded. This provides a smooth customer experience, increasing the likelihood of brand loyalty and customer retention.

• A new digital service needs to be simple to integrate with the existing backend. In the short term, a unified product integration can accelerate go-to-market time and reduce training hours for employees. In the longer term, a well-integrated digital service allows for more complex backend processes, including automation.

• Any new product integration, especially when sourced from an external provider, must be scalable and able to grow with the brand’s ambitions.

Why offer eSIMs?

Embedding an eSIM solution from 1GLOBAL offers a range of new benefits for digital platforms and allows them to harness the market shift to provide an in-demand product for their own customers, through a trusted platform.

The embedded telco service from 1GLOBAL directly addresses these concerns. Designed specifically for digital platforms with multinational user bases, 1GLOBAL embedded telco allows brands to incorporate eSIM-based services, like travel eSIMs, into their offering and present new and existing customers with an attractive new add-on. These services are custom-built to integrate directly with the front- and backend, seamlessly fitting into any existing UI, website or app. Crucially, these eSIM products are custom-branded, providing customers with a holistic user experience and boosting brand recognition.

• A sustainable revenue source: Travel eSIMs are a service with high potential for repeat purchases - not only is the purchasing process immediate, but familiarity with the product incentivizes future purchases with the same provider.

• Boosted customer engagement: For digital platforms, offering a practical and cost-effective way for customers to get online boosts engagement with the platform – the easier it is for customers to access the internet, the easier it is for them to access an online service.

• An additional USP: An eSIM service is a genuinely valuable augmentation that helps customers save money while generating revenue. It’s a near-instant addition that immediately provides any digital service with a new USP.

• Simple integration: An eSIM distribution service like 1GLOBAL embedded telco is painless to integrate, with little technical knowledge or manual oversight required.

In early 2024, the finance app Revolut incorporated these 1GLOBAL white-label eSIMs into their own app, offering their 40+ million customers the option to purchase travel eSIMs directly within the Revolut app. Within weeks, over 200,000 customers had signed up. More recently, German digital bank N26 introduced N26 App, which offers its customers the option to access multiple mobile plans directly from their banking app, and powered by 1GLOBAL technology.

These examples illustrate the strength of bundling digital services and echo the report's findings – in 2025, customers can look to their existing digital platforms to offer a diverse range of services, rather than individually seeking out and managing separate providers.

As the bundle economy continues to gather pace, telcos and digital service providers can harness the capabilities of Mobile Virtual Network Enablers (MVNEs) such as 1GLOBAL to diversify their product offering, while retaining control over their product and brand identity.

Learn more about integrating eSIMs into your brand's digital offering or contact our team directly to discuss it further.