According to Forbes, the predictable era of subscription growth fueled by marketing spend is breaking down due to rising customer acquisition costs and privacy changes. In response, a major shift is underway toward telco-led bundling, with Omdia forecasting these bundles will account for 25% of global online video subscriptions by 2029, up from one-fifth today. This strategy lets companies embed services into local telecom plans to reach price-sensitive markets without disrupting global pricing. The operational complexity of managing these bundles across dozens of countries is being tackled by AI, like in Amdocs’ MarketONE platform, which automates configuration of billing, entitlements, and compliance. Anthony Goonetilleke of Amdocs argues growth now depends on treating distribution as a system, not one-off deals, with AI making that scale manageable.
The Bundling Backdoor
Here’s the thing: everyone’s tired of subscriptions. A Deloitte survey shows “subscription fatigue” is real, and a separate report found 74% of U.S. cord-cutters canceled a streaming service last year. So the funnel is leaking, and pouring more money into the top isn’t fixing it. The answer, weirdly, might be going backwards—to the old cable bundle model, but supercharged for the digital age.
But it’s not just about putting Netflix with your internet. It’s a strategic workaround for a brutal problem: global pricing. A service like Disney+ can’t just charge $2 in India and $15 in the U.S. without causing chaos. Bundling with a local telecom operator solves that. The telco offers a package that makes sense locally, and Disney+ gets a subscriber without publicly slashing its price. The customer sees value, the service gets distribution, and the global price card stays intact. It’s a backdoor into markets that were previously too expensive or complicated to crack.
Why AI Is The Glue
Now, bundling across borders sounds like a logistical nightmare. And it used to be. Goonetilleke isn’t wrong about the complexity. You’re dealing with different partners, regulatory rules, billing systems, and currency setups in every country. Doing that manually meant you could only handle a few key markets. That’s where the AI piece comes in.
It’s not about AI selling subscriptions. It’s about AI managing the insane paperwork. Think about it: an AI system can ingest the regulatory framework for Brazil, configure a compliant billing workflow for a partner there, map user entitlements for three different service tiers, and set pricing guardrails—all automatically. When the rules change, it adapts. Omdia’s forecast of 25% market share by 2029 hinges on this kind of operational scale becoming possible. Without AI to coordinate it, the system collapses under its own weight. This is industrial-scale coordination, the kind of backend process automation that makes new business models viable.
The Real Prize Isn’t Acquisition, It’s Retention
This might be the most overlooked part. Sure, getting a subscriber through a telco bundle is cheaper than a Google ad. But the magic is what happens after. A subscription on your phone bill is… sticky. You see it every month alongside a service you fundamentally need. Cancelling means calling your provider or digging into a complicated account portal. The friction to leave is huge.
As Goonetilleke says, retention stops being about the app’s latest feature and starts being about the billing relationship. That relationship, managed by the telco, often lasts for years. The subscription rides along on that durability. So you’re not just acquiring a user; you’re acquiring a user with built-in inertia against churn. In a world where everyone is churning, that’s a superpower.
The Trade-Offs And What It Means
But look, it’s not all upside. You’re sharing revenue with the telco, so your margin per user is lower. You’re also giving up some direct relationship and customer data. And AI doesn’t magically handle the partnership negotiations or brand positioning. It just makes the execution manageable once the deal is signed.
So what’s the big picture? The subscription playbook is being rewritten. Growth is shifting from a marketing problem (optimize the funnel!) to a distribution design problem (embed into existing systems!). The winners won’t just have the best product or the slickest ads. They’ll be the ones who best navigate these partner ecosystems, using platforms like Amdocs MarketONE to turn bespoke chaos into repeatable scale. It’s less sexy than a viral launch. But it might be the only reliable way to find the next million subscribers when the old roads are washed out.
