Subscriptions: the black hole of digital marketing

Giles Tongue at Bango explains why subscription brands are overhauling their strategies

 

For years, direct acquisition channels like paid search and social ads were the fuel of subscription growth. Now, that engine is sputtering. 

 

Bango has conducted a survey of over 200 senior leaders at streaming and subscription services: almost half (46%) branded their digital marketing spend a “black hole”, and 53% said that direct channels are no longer sustainable. 

 

With costs soaring and returns falling, the brands that once lived on one-to-one, direct acquisition are slamming the brakes on and hunting for smarter ways to grow.

 

There’s a clear consensus: 91% of subscription leaders agree that successful acquisition now requires both direct and indirect channels. More than three-quarters (77%) say they’re prioritising indirect strategies this year, and 82% plan to increase their investment in them. 

 

 

Why direct is losing its appeal 

But what’s changed?

 

Platform algorithm tweaks, stricter data privacy rules, growing consumer fatigue. All of these factors make it harder than ever for subscription brands to reach the right audiences effectively. Many of them are saying they’ve hit the ceiling on their ability to scale direct acquisition while still turning a profit. 

 

And as a result, their strategies are shifting.

 

The data from Bango reveals the extent of this shift: a third of brands have slashed paid search, mirrored by similar cuts in display and paid social advertising. 

 

All in all, four out of five companies (80%) have already reduced spend on at least one paid channel. The market is turning.

 

 

Turning towards partnerships

In a search for smarter, more sustainable ways to scale, many brands are landing on indirect acquisition strategies. Bundling, partnerships, and content hubs that offer access to ready-made audiences are safer bets for budgets, and essential elements in a subscription marketers’ toolkit.

 

This is borne out in the data. The majority of subscription brands (82%) say they plan to increase investment in indirect channels this year and even more (90%) are already bundling offers (or plan to) in 2025. 

 

The pay-off looks promising. Nearly three-quarters (72%) tell us that subscribers gained through indirect routes tend to be of higher quality and more loyal than those acquired through traditional ads. 

 

And we know consumers are heading in the same direction. 

 

Our recent consumer survey shows that 62% of US subscribers would prefer to manage multiple services through a single bundle. Among 18–24-year-olds, more than half already receive a bundled subscription they used to pay for separately.

 

We’re seeing a clear shift from the subscription economy to the bundle economy. Consumers don’t want to manage ten separate subscriptions. They want value, convenience, and flexibility. 

 

 

The bigger picture for marketers

Zoom out and the story is bigger than subscriptions. 

 

The whole growth playbook of the 2010s — massive ad budgets, pixel-perfect tracking, endless CRO tweaks — is running out of road. Taking its place is a more collaborative model that trades impressions for distribution, swaps click-through rates for real value exchange, and meets people where they actually buy. As marketers funnel budgets into partnerships, the very meaning of “growth marketing” is being rewritten.

 

That shift matters well beyond this market. The ad platforms that have grown large on a diet of performance budgets should brace for leaner days. 

 

Winners in this new cycle will be the brands that move first: bundling smartly, embedding seamlessly, and packaging value the way modern consumers expect it: friction-free, flexible and squarely on their terms. 

 

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Giles Tongue is VP of marketing and subscriptions expert at Bango

 

Main image courtesy of iStockPhoto.com and primeimages