Trend: Everyone Is Subscribing To A Subscription Business Model

As more brands decide to enter the subscription economy, consumer sentiment is already starting to show signs of fatigue, and even animosity, as brands test the boundaries of what can reasonably be nickel-and-dimed. Pushes for greater monetization come at a cost for all parties involved, and it is important to ensure that these costs add value and accessibility from a price-point perspective, rather than create unnecessary friction within the consumer-brand relationship and CX journey.

BMW’s pay-to-play features provoke “heated” response
After news broke that BMW would be selling heated seat subscriptions for $18 a month (the company later clarified that they would not be doing so in North American markets), the consumer pushback was immediate. The automaker offers a suite of micro-transaction, add-on subscription services through its Connected Drive platform. BMW

The NFL launches its own tiered streaming service
NFL plus and NFL plus premium are now available for consumers to stream live local or nationally broadcast regular and postseason NFL games on their mobile devices as part of a new, subscription-based package from the league. The NFL’s move to create their own product comes as streaming services ramp up efforts to lock-in live sports deals for their own subscribers. NFL+

Snapchat puts experimental features behind micro-subscription paywall
The recently launched Snapchat+ subscription service enables passionate users of the social app to pay a monthly fee for access to exclusive in-app features like custom icons, new profile badges, data insights, display tools and more. Snapchat+

Investors think Apple can unlock $1 trillion+ with subscription model
Apple’s industry-leading retention rates are an untapped growth driver, and investors want the company to pivot from acting as hardware vendor to offering an opt-in subscription service for its products by making device ownership dependent on paying a monthly fee. Barron’s