Both hard bundles and “aggregator 2.0” bundles are different solutions to the same problems: (1) scaling a streaming app’s user base by offering ease of opting-in, and (2) also retaining the user.

To remind you:

• According to Paramount Global President and CEO of Streaming Tom Ryan, hard bundles are when a streamer works with a local provider “to give their customers immediate access to a streaming service (e.g., Paramount+), as well as direct-to-consumer and à la carte distribution or sometimes a hybrid of all three."
• “Aggregator 2.0” bundles offer “the ability to personalize offerings like never before, mixing and matching television, news, e-commerce, gaming, health, and any other service that charges a monthly or annual subscription rate.”

But, watching the Tiger Woods comeback narrative play out at The Masters this week, I wondered whether these bundles still don’t solve for the expensive bets that legacy media streamers have made on sports streaming rights. 

It’s Disney’s integration of Hulu and ESPN+ that raised the question: if they had not bundled these two services, how would I find the broadcast of Woods as a cord-cutter? And when I found it, how easy would it be for me to watch it?

Because of the Disney+ bundle on Hulu and ESPN+, it’s relatively easy to find and watch. But, it still has friction in the funnel of getting me from awareness to viewing.