The streaming wars are reaching a fever pitch with more ads, higher prices, and greater competition as platforms scramble to reach profitability and capture paying users.

With so many choices now available to consumers, it seems like the media landscape is reverting back to the cable TV bundle of years past — the very thing that streaming set out to undo.

Retail giant Walmart (WMT) officially partnered with Paramount Global (PARA) to offer subscription services like Paramount+ to Walmart+ members, while YouTube TV (GOOGL) is reportedly set to launch an online channel store to compete with the likes of Roku (ROKU), Amazon (AMZN), and Apple (AAPL).

"It's a natural phenomenon," Raj Venkatesan, professor of Business Administration at University of Virginia's Darden School of Business, told Yahoo Finance.

"Consumers do need convenience, and one place where they can look at all of their options, but where I think it will be different is the new players bring in more personalized services for consumers, which the old bundles did not provide," the professor continued.

He explained that he expects the future of streaming to be "more searchable, more customized, and more personalized," describing the changes within the streaming market as "a function of its own success."

"Yes, it looks like we're going back to the old times, but it's in a different, probably better, way."

Paramount's upcoming Walmart partnership underscores a "survival of the fittest" mentality as streaming companies battle a more fickle consumer.

According to data from subscriber-measurement firm Antenna, cited by The Wall Street Journal, about 19% of subscribers to premium services — which includes Netflix (NFLX), Hulu, Apple TV+, HBO Max (WBD), among others — canceled three or more subscriptions in the two years up to June, compared to just 6% in the two-year period leading up to June 2020.

That increased churn, coupled with stalling growth in domestic markets, has contributed to big losses in recent quarters with Netflix shedding a whopping 1 million subscribers in Q2, while Peacock subscriptions remained flat.