In what may be some of the most underrated news in Hollywood, Apple brokered a deal with Comcast, which controls NBCUniversal, to add a major distribution line to reach new customers.  Comcast similarly adds premium and award-winning content to its growing platform for scale, which may help their streamer Peacock gain subscribers.  Xfinity and Sky (United Kingdom) customers will be able to access the content, but the Apple TV product will also feature Xfinity Stream and Sky Go applications on the platform. 

Apple realizes that although it has several award-winning shows in Ted Lasso and The Morning Show, it does not have the breadth of content to demand massive subscribers.  The platform is too new and with no traditional large studio or library of content tied to it, Apple needed the partnership.  Comcast gains by adding premium content (think a younger HBO in AppleTV+) to its offering.  

Spotify continues to grow its platform of content and subscribers through a massive and essentially unlimited music library with multiple listening options, while adding a significant amount of podcasts.  The question for Spotify is whether it will ever get into the visual content space. 

Joe Rogan's podcast, which is now a Spotify exclusive, does have a video component, but with 172 million subscribers, the audience is there for Spotify to add dedicated television and film content.  Original content would be ideal to keep costs down, but with major investments and partnerships, it is conceivable that we could see a sports network or studio want to utilize the Spotify platform and subscribers to add distribution to scale. 

Spotify already includes ad and non-ad based options to secure additional revenue and premium options.  Live sports would obviously have advertising, but they could take the form of a Netflix-type sports option.  

One potential partner is FOX.  FOX Sports does not have a major streaming partner.  FOX will eventually need to distribute on a streaming platform beyond broadcast television.  A partnership with an existing streamer in the space might be too complicated from a rights and brand confusion standpoint.  FOX has shown an affinity for technology and shaking things up by its NFT/WWE partnership and selling its entertainment library to Disney.  

Is Apple a streaming option for sports content?  The financing is there, but the appetite for large-scale live sports rights and the associated cost?  Not so much...at least so far.  Partnerships between multiple major studios, which is how Hulu started, is a much more likely scenario for investing in the future.

Going back to the Apple/Comcast deal, it highlights the need for partnerships in the streaming age in order for streamers to avoid being becoming siloed.  With the number of streaming options, customers are often left wondering where to buy and where to avoid buying a subscription.  Partnerships help avoid the strain and create easier purchase options for customers.  Without partnerships across brands and companies, there is a threat of moving into another cable model of old.  It was once profitable, but is now continuously threatened by cord-cutting as customers find less expensive options.  The one missing element in the growth and pursuit of streaming beyond the advancement of technology and less cost for customers has come at the expense of coordination among platforms.  The Apple/Comcast deal challenges that notion.  

Will the industry see more deals like Apple/Comcast?  It seems to be leaning that way.  Platforms like Apple could use the subscriber boost.  Amazon already has the subscribers and it purchased MGM the studio and its content library.  Paramount+ could use a subscriber boost and most of the new streaming platforms beyond Amazon and Disney could as well.  

Chart: Where Americans Get Their Stream On | Statista

The Apple/Comcast deal is an interesting one because the two brands were never affiliated.  That lack of affiliation must have been a driving factor to make a deal because both companies can stand to benefit from the other's customers.  However, one key component to future deals should be bundles.  They are often not marketed very well because it takes away from the total dollar amount collected from subscribers. 

Bundles should be at the forefront of growth strategy because platforms require three major things for growth: (1) familiarity of content, (2) trust in content, and (3) distribution of content.  Siloed content without a robust history is unlikely to see much future success.  Nonetheless, it is a wonderful sight to see content and platforms coordinating efforts to make it easier on consumers, which also benefits the bottom line.