In the near future, don’t be surprised if your phone provider or streaming video service offers you a bundle that includes free food delivery.
On Tuesday, technology provider Bango announced a new partnership with Uber that integrates the subscription offering Uber One into Bango’s Digital Vending Machine product. The Digital Vending Machine is a platform that allows services like wireless phone companies to resell access to complementary services like subscription video products.
Verizon is a Bango client that utilizes the Digital Vending Machine to launch its own streaming marketplace called Verizon Plus-Play. Through the marketplace, Verizon customers can purchase streaming services like Netflix, Max, AMC Plus and Disney Plus, often at a discount compared to what the service would cost on its own. Verizon customers also have access to unique subscription bundles, like one that allows them to purchase the ad-supported plans of Netflix and Max for just $10 per month, made possible thanks to the Digital Vending Machine provided by Bango.
The integration of Uber One is the latest sign that Bango is not just a repository of subscription-based video services: Uber One is a subscription offering tied to its legacy Uber ride-share program and its food delivery service Uber Eats. For $10 per month or around $100 per year, Uber One subscribers can have food and groceries delivered from partner merchants with no delivery fees, score a 10 percent discount on eligible deliveries and pick-up orders, and get 6 percent Uber Cash when they book certain rides through the Uber app.
The partnership unlocks a lot of opportunities for Bango clients like Verizon: Suddenly, telecom partners can resell Uber One subscriptions to their customers, or forge unique bundling arrangements that allow them to promote a streaming video and food delivery package at one low price (think: Netflix plus Uber One).
The arrangement is beneficial for Uber One as well, in that it has the potential to put the service in front of tens of millions of wireless phone and broadband Internet customers who may be more willing to purchase an Uber One subscription if they can have it billed to their phone plans or if they can receive a discount offering — something that is not lost on Uber executives.
Related: Read more coverage of Bango on The Desk
“Expanding the reach of our Uber One subscription service through indirect channels is an important way for us to increase uptake,” Danielle Sheridan, the Head of Global Membership at Uber, said in a statement. “We’re thrilled to partner with Bango to leverage the Digital Vending Machine to open up telco channels swiftly and efficiently. We look forward to using this partnership to reach new audiences and grow our membership base.”
“Uber extending the reach of its subscription service through telcos is a major validation of the demand for more choice and flexibility in how people access their favorite subscription services,” said Anil Malhotra, the Chief Marketing Officer at Bango. “Uber One is already a great example of a multi-purpose subscription, providing rides and deliveries, all in one place. It’s exactly that type of all-in-one convenience that today’s subscribers are looking for, and that will be further served through Uber One’s inclusion in the Digital Vending Machine and future bundles.”
In an interview with The Desk earlier this year, Bango’s Vice President of Marketing Giles Tongue said the company has a goal of supporting “half a billion subscriptions globally,” a plan that he said was “very-open ended.”
“We’re agnostic about the partnerships on both ends — to us, it’s one company’s product or service being sold by another company,” Tongue said. “We bring those partnerships to the real world, and make those transactions happen. We can go broad, or we can go niche.”
Part of the strategy involves going beyond streaming video subscriptions, and looking at opportunities to bring non-video partners into the mix.
“Subscription potentials are numerous, and that is especially true with things that customers buy on a recurring basis,” Tongue affirmed.
