Streaming
State of Play
Revised Sep 3, 2026The moment. YouTube now takes 1 hour 46 minutes of the average American’s day against 1 hour 31 minutes for live television, per Attest’s attention economy report, and a separate study put YouTube ahead of live TV on the same measure. Streaming reached 48.2% of US ad-supported viewing in Q2. Sony opened Live TV on PS5 with more than 100 free ad-supported channels sold through Publica and PubMatic. Apple TV raised its US price to $15 a month, its second increase in a year. Netflix’s 27-minute Grand Theft Auto VI look drew 31.1 million views in four days and ranked first in 87 of the 93 countries it tracks.
The tension. The screen taking the most attention is the one buyers still price as digital. Tatari makes the gap literal — CNN draws 240 million monthly YouTube views against 550,000 in primetime — and Tubular’s data says the reason is form: viewers take their YouTube sports in Shorts, not in the long-form television shape the ad pitch describes.
Who’s moving. Sony, turning a console into a channel store. Apple, pricing up before the Ted Lasso finale. Netflix, licensing Warner Bros. catalog, cross-posting with YouTube travel stars and putting a game trailer at the top of its own chart. YouTube TV, ingesting ESPN’s app-exclusive library into the channel guide. Xbox, shopping more than a dozen game franchises for over $300 million. Gracenote, on the 85% who want games on the home screen.
What the desk is watching. Whether a free tier actually lands at Netflix or Disney+ now that Sony and Paramount have made FAST a default, and whether the Shorts habit keeps live-sports money away from the largest video service in the country.
Ankler: robotics giants could one day own the leagues they now rent
The Ankler’s Erik Barmack ties Beijing’s humanoid Robot Games to sports rights economics: the NFL, NBA and global streamers pay billions yearly for scarce athletes, while Amazon, Google and Apple already build the robotics that could one day replace them.
‘The Whisper Man’ climbs to No. 1 on Netflix with 33.4 million views
The Adam Scott thriller grew from 23.2 million debut views to 33.4 million in its second week, passing the GTA VI teaser to top Netflix’s movie chart for the week of Aug. 31.
Niche streaming services grew subscribers 14% in first half of 2026
Antenna data shows specialty streamers like AMC+, BritBox and Crunchyroll reached 42 million collective subscribers in the first six months of 2026, up 14% year over year.
Sky bundle deal drives Disney+ ad tier reach up nearly 30%
Disney+‘s UK household reach grew by around 1.1 million between Q1 and Q2, with over 700,000 households picking the ad-supported tier, per Barb data, largely credited to a Sky bundling partnership.
Hollywood chiefs turn out for Macron’s Lumière Summit, but stay quiet
Netflix’s Ted Sarandos, Disney’s Dana Walden, NBCUniversal’s Donna Langley and other top Hollywood executives attended French President Emmanuel Macron’s Lumière Summit on cinema’s future amid AI and streaming disruption.
Meta’s teen-safety settlement may not cover YouTube, TikTok on TV
Meta’s settlement with state attorneys general sets time limits and overnight bans for teens on Facebook and Instagram’s web and app versions, but the language does not appear to expressly cover smart TV interfaces.
Streaming ad loads jump 18% this year as streamers chase margin
Ad minutes per hour on top US streamers rose 18% from January to August, according to Ampere Analysis data shared with Business Insider.
Cord-cutters are ditching boxes, not cable TV itself
Digiday’s Future of TV Briefing points to data showing people are dropping cable boxes in favor of streaming apps, but many still pay for the same bundled cable channels through virtual pay-TV services.
MS NOW launches DTC streaming membership at $7.99 a month
MS NOW, the rebranded MSNBC, launches a direct-to-consumer membership Wednesday priced at $7.99 monthly or $79.99 yearly, with an introductory $39.99 annual rate through September 30. Subscribers get 24/7 streaming plus talent Q&As.
DOJ widens antitrust probe into Fox’s $22 billion Roku acquisition
The Justice Department plans a “second request” for more data from Fox and Roku, people familiar said, signaling skepticism about a deal merging Fox’s content with Roku’s dominant connected-TV operating system.
New streaming series orders plunge, study finds
A new study finds streaming platforms sharply cut the number of new original series they greenlit, continuing a multi-year pullback in original programming.
Netflix agrees to report box office for six upcoming theatrical releases
Netflix will report box office grosses for six upcoming films, including Greta Gerwig’s “Narnia” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” Variety learned.
Streaming ad loads jump 18%, raising the creative bar
Streaming ad loads climbed 18% as platforms pack in more commercial minutes per hour, narrowing the gap with linear TV’s traditional load.
US linear orders fall less sharply than streaming, Ampere finds
Ampere Analysis found US linear orders fell 26% between 2022 and 2025, from 1,773 to 1,304, while streaming orders dropped 41%, from 1,144 to 678, over the same span.
Netflix households log 3.5 hours daily, most of any streamer
US households spent an average of 3.5 hours a day on Netflix in June 2026, up from 3.1 hours in March, ahead of every rival streaming service, per a Comscore survey.
Amazon cancels ‘Spider-Noir’ despite 11 Emmy nods and 2.6B viewing minutes
Prime Video will not renew “Spider-Noir,” Sony’s Nicolas Cage-led series, after one season.
Streaming price hikes are outpacing cable’s worst inflation years
Streaming rates have collectively risen 11.8 percent over the past year, versus a 3.9 percent annual average for cable and satellite historically.
Netflix, Prime Video diverge sharply on international content sourcing
Non-US titles make up nearly two-thirds of both Netflix and Prime Video’s US catalogs, far ahead of Hulu and Paramount+.
Amazon Ads pitches self-service streaming TV to small businesses
Amazon Ads has expanded its self-service Sponsored TV product to small U.S. businesses that don’t sell on Amazon, offering no minimum spend and access to Prime Video inventory.
Streaming latency now costs subscribers, survey finds
Big Blue Marble surveyed 5,027 consumers across seven markets and found 62 percent of live sports viewers have seen results or social reactions before the action reached their screen.
Apple TV leads HBO Max entering final Emmys night
After two nights of Emmy ceremonies covering 102 categories, Apple TV holds 19 awards led by Widow’s Bay’s 8 wins, ahead of HBO/HBO Max’s 16 led by DTF St. Louis’s 6, with Netflix trailing at 13.
Marketers split on where CTV budgets and identity fit
A Marketing Brew survey of readers found little consensus on CTV: 24% fund it from performance budgets, 17% treat it as its own line item, and just 8% pull from TV/video budgets.
FX’s Landgraf intervened to save Adults after a season one ratings flatline
FX’s Adults nearly died after weak season one ratings, but network chief John Landgraf made an unconventional request that reshaped season two. Creators Rebecca Shaw and Ben Kronengold detail the redirect in a new Q&A.
CNN’s free FAST channel finds an audience, not yet a business model
CNN Headlines has reached over 60 million people this year, with monthly time spent tripling and streams topping 5 million in a single day during the Iran War, CNN said.
Apple’s new operations chief inherits a two-decade innovation gap
John Ternus took over Apple this week. This opinion column argues Apple has coasted on design and reputation while Siri, Apple Music, Apple TV hardware, HomePod and its iWork apps all lag category leaders like Alexa, Spotify and Google.