How the SVOD Aggregation War Just Launched a New Phase

As the battle for control of streaming subscriptions rages on, one combatant is redoubling its efforts, while another has apparently capitulated.

Late last month, just as Charter Communications expanded the roster of SVOD platforms included in its Spectrum TV packages — adding Hulu to a lineup that now features Disney+, Max, Peacock and Paramount+, among others — Verizon quietly moved to shutter its subscription marketplace, +play, essentially marking the end of the telecom giant’s brief but valiant efforts to become a power player in streaming aggregation.

Though I never used the service myself (not a Verizon customer), I was always bullish on +play, arguing it was giving the telco a head start in an area its rivals would inevitably have to join. Its failure suggests that cellular providers may not be destined to become the preeminent aggregators after all — or at least not in the near future — as other players solidify their advantages in the space.

The aforementioned Charter has, remarkably quickly, assembled a lineup of (ad-supported) SVODs to distribute to its customers at no extra cost. Those customers can also purchase the ad-free versions of the SVODs through Charter, from which the distributor presumably reaps a portion of the subscription revenue.

There’s precious little data available on the success of this subscription marketplace, but it’s noteworthy that Charter’s pay TV subscriber losses have been substantially improving in recent quarters. In Q1, the distributor shed 181,000 video customers — not exactly a triumph but a massive year-over-year improvement from the 405,000 it dropped in Q1 2024.

Stemming losses to such a degree is a best-case scenario for the cable business these days, and the addition of major SVODs to Charter’s offerings seems to be a primary factor. While the company’s initial deal with Disney was struck back in the fall of 2023, its lineup has grown more robust with time, adding Paramount+ in August 2024 and Peacock earlier this year.

“It appears that we are beginning to see the early impacts of Charter’s bundled streaming packages,” MoffettNathanson analysts wrote in an April research note following Charter’s Q1 earnings report.

This strategy remains unlikely to save the cable bundle from its ultimate fate, but Charter’s qualified success shows the most experienced video service bundlers can still reap some rewards from doing so in the streaming era.

Still, cable providers will probably end up being no match for the “everything store” of Amazon, whose Prime Video Channels service is well on its way to becoming the dominant aggregation platform.

At a recent industry event, Amazon showcased a research report it commissioned from analytics firm Antenna, which found subscriptions through Prime Video Channels accounted for about 25% of U.S. SVOD sign-ups in Q1 2025. Per Antenna’s data, this puts the e-commerce giant in a commanding first place among third-party distributors, with a larger share than all of the major app stores (including Apple and Google Play) combined.

Previous Antenna reports have indicated Amazon’s advantage comes largely from smaller “specialty” SVOD subscriptions rather than premium platforms, unsurprising considering major services like Netflix, Disney+ and even Peacock remain Prime Video Channels holdouts.

Still, last year’s addition of Apple TV+ to the Channels roster showed Amazon’s advantage over its chief Big Tech rival in the aggregation space, an advantage underlined by a reported surge in sign-ups for Apple’s SVOD after it joined Prime Video Channels. Meanwhile, Antenna’s research report found HBO Max lost around 5 million subscribers after ending its distribution agreement with Prime Video in 2021 and recouped 3 million in just three months upon returning to Channels the next year.

Perhaps Peacock, and even Disney, should take note: Amazon can provide access to a significant incremental subscriber base, though its reported 30%-50% cut of sub revenue is a hefty tax to pay.

If Amazon isn’t destined for victory in the aggregation battle, it won’t be because of any single rival but rather a group of them: the connected TV interfaces that command consumers’ screen time.

Subscription aggregation and management are major pillars of the biggest CTV OS players’ businesses, helped along by these companies’ control of the streaming user experience. Amazon is a contender in this space, too, of course, but its Fire TV OS has historically lagged behind dominant players including Roku and Samsung.

Ironically, the tech giant now faces a new challenge from its old rival in the “everything store” business: Walmart. The retail behemoth, through its recent acquisition of TV manufacturer Vizio, is making a concerted effort to build itself into a streaming power player.

News broke last month that Walmart will use Vizio’s SmartCast OS for its Onn line of smart TVs going forward, replacing Roku as its software of choice. This will give Walmart full control over its in-house line of TVs and, more important, provide it with a potentially lucrative share of streaming subscription revenues through Vizio’s aggregation platform.

Most key, though, is the mere fact of Walmart’s official entrance into the streaming aggregation battle at a moment when third-party distribution is becoming increasingly important to the SVOD business. Verizon may not have been able to hack it, but a giant of retail, one that knows how to sell products in a vast marketplace, will be a much more formidable competitor for its fellow aggregators.