1)     Skinny Bundles:

Skinny bundles offer more customized content packages that match viewing preferences. They afford cable and satellite operators the steady revenue and consumer relationship of a modern subscription, and are packaged a-la-carte to be more attractive to continually evolving consumer preferences. Individual networks and streaming services have introduced customizable bundles to market, and the response has been favorable.

2)     Apps:

Pay-TV providers have extended their traditional set-top box infrastructure to include specialized apps that enable viewers to be more interactive on the TV. Networks are introducing their own apps as a second or sometimes primary screen, so that viewers get real-time information and commentary around the show they are watching – creating an engaging viewing experience.

Pay-TV providers have also taken the opportunity to evolve their distribution infrastructure past the set-top box, leveraging their high broadband speeds, in home WiFi and mobile networks, to extend into new second screen experiences that are accessed over the service provider network.

3)     Cross-Channel Viewing:

Service operators seized the opportunity to weave multi-channel viewing into traditional Pay-TV packages — for example, networks have made tablet and mobile streaming a standard in a consumer’s subscription offering.

Comcast’s latest offering serves as a timely example showcasing cable’s ability to deliver a winning viewing experience for tomorrow’s consumer. Through the X1 offering, during this year’s Summer Olympic Games, Comcast subscribers will be able to search for events, athletes or countries of interest – and get relevant alerts on multiple devices based on their personalized searches. Comcast is empowering consumers to easily find what they want to watch, either on TV or online, at their own convenience.

The current landscape:

Personalization when it comes to Pay-TV offerings – from being able to select specific channels within the bundled offering, to not paying more to get channels that go unused – is now the consumer expectation. Pay-TV has evolved to meet these intensifying demands, and deliver a viewing experience that exceeds today’s customer expectations. As traditional providers continue to innovate, OTT providers are experiencing a plateau. Netflix stock dropped 15 percent in April, after forecasting lower than expected subscriber growth for Q2. In contrast, Comcast added 53,000 video customers in April – marking the biggest first-quarter increase in video subscribers the company has seen in nine years. Furthermore, Charter added 54,000 Pay-TV customers in Q4 and a total of 32,000 subscribers for 2016.

Although consumers value a-la-carte offerings – they are increasingly looking for an all-encompassing hub to search for content. Over everything else, consumers want immediate, convenient access to their content. Most consumers do not want to be burdened with searching Netflix, Hulu, Sling and HBO GO separately to find the TV series they plan to binge watch for the afternoon. Additionally, modern-day, cord cutting consumers do not feel a sense of brand loyalty or affinity. If they can’t find what they are looking for in one spot, they will simply subscribe to another provider.

Better together:

Streaming services are increasingly looking to cash in on the cable industry's dominance in order to explore new avenues of customer engagement. Pay-TV recognizes the advantage in joining forces with streaming services – with 20 percent of U.S. Pay-TV providers offering Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD) services within the confines of their program bundle.

As consumer appetite increases, these partnerships are taking form. The main driver of these relationships for service providers is twofold. First, these partnerships keep subscribers within the Pay-TV provider ecosystem – which is now expanding to include streaming offerings. On the flip side, OTT players see opportunity in extending the reach of their services to large, already-established, Pay-TV subscriber pools. These partnerships also help traditional service providers retain subscribers with cord cutting tendencies, who would otherwise consider dropping their cable or satellite package for an OTT service exclusively.