Over 31 million online US homes, or two out of five online US households, subscribe to bundled services from one provider, according to new research from Telephia’s Total Communications Survey for Q2 2006.
Telephia said that double and triple play bundles were the most popular with consumers, with the internet/TV bundle leading all other service combinations with almost 13 million households.
An internet/phone combination had more than 10 million households, over 5 million households subscribed to a triple-play service combination of TV/phone/internet, whilst approximately 300,000 subscribed to quadruple-play bundles.
Respondents said that the main reason for bundling is price. Around one-third of households subscribing to bundled services said that convenience was a strong factor in the decision to combine their service subscriptions. The least importance was given to reliability of service.
| Consumer Factors For Bundling (US) |
| Primary Reason |
Top Two-Plays |
Top Three-Play |
Four-Play |
| For Bundle |
Internet/phone |
Internet/TV |
Internet/TV/phone |
Internet/TV/phone/wireless |
| Price (Promotions, discounts) |
42.8% |
46.0% |
53.4% |
60.9% |
| Convenience (single bill, one point of contact for customer service) |
35.4% |
28.9% |
33.5% |
29.2% |
| Reliability of service provider |
10.7% |
12.2% |
7.4% |
9.5% |
| Other |
11.1% |
12.9% |
5.7% |
0.4% |
Kanishka Agarwal, vice president of new products at Telephia, said: “Consumers gain a number of advantages from subscribing to a bundled program, including cost-savings, integrated billing, and a single point of contact for services. The key for service providers will be to develop pricing and product offers for each segment that drive bundling purchases and the long-term value of the customer.”
Agarwal added: “While price is a key decision driver, bundle purchasers are also looking for superior customer experience and will not switch if they believe the new provider has worse quality. This is why all the service providers are working swiftly to build their reputation for responsive and reliable support.”
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