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.
Unifast Media adds HelloYou TV’s FAST channels to ad sales roster
Unifast Media will handle advertising sales for five HelloYou TV FAST channels, including Real Madrid TV and W-Sport, across eight European markets. The deal covers video and premium CTV inventory as HelloYou expands its free streaming footprint.
Netflix renews its original podcast slate
Netflix is renewing early podcasts like Murder with My Husband and The Pete Davidson Show while adding new titles from Katt Williams and Harlan Coben.
Livestreaming’s ad advantage hinges on keeping repetition in check
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YouTube’s Shorts habit undercuts its live sports ad pitch
Tubular Labs data shows YouTube functions as TV by the numbers, yet advertisers aren’t buying it that way. The gap traces to sports: viewers overwhelmingly consume sports content on YouTube through Shorts rather than long-form, TV-style viewing.
Disney’s $75M Ridley Scott film flops with $8M opening
The Dog Stars, starring Jacob Elordi and Margaret Qualley, finished fifth at the box office with just eight million dollars, after Disney moved its release from March to late August and marketed it as an action movie.
The oral history of YouTube TV’s decade-long climb to cable’s throne
Sportico traces YouTube TV from a 2015 rooftop-antenna prototype to a service that has reportedly surpassed 10 million subscribers today.
YouTube overtakes live TV in daily US viewing time
Attest’s 2026 attention economy report finds YouTube now claims 1 hour 46 minutes of the average American’s day versus 1 hour 31 minutes for live TV.
Netflix’s ‘GTA 6' extended look draws 31.1 million views in four days
Netflix’s exclusive 27-minute “GTA VI” extended look, live for only six hours before hitting YouTube, became the streamer’s most-viewed title last week with 31.1 million views, ranking No. 1 in 87 of 93 tracked countries.
MLS restores full U.S. Open Cup field as it hunts $400M TV deal
Backheeled reports MLS will return every club to the U.S.
Netflix study: better recommenders concentrate viewing, don’t spread it
A Netflix research paper examines how recommender system upgrades reshape consumption across the catalog, splitting titles into popularity segments including a “middle tail.” The findings challenge assumptions that better RecSys naturally surfaces long-tail or lesser-known content to more viewers.
Kevin Hart’s Hartbeat to make vertical originals for microdrama platform aTwist
Hartbeat and aTwist will team on more than 20 original microseries for a dedicated Hartbeat destination on the platform. The slate also includes adaptations of Blake Karrington’s bestselling book series, produced with Upscale Productions.
ESPN’s app-exclusive content now lives inside YouTube TV
YouTube TV rolled out “ingestion” of app-exclusive ESPN content, letting subscribers access all live ESPN events and library shows like 30 for 30 directly in the channel guide.
Gracenote: 85% of viewers want a home-screen hub for sports schedules
Gracenote’s Home Screen Advantage study found 26% of viewers often can’t find games on TV, and 85% want their set’s first screen to show upcoming games and how-to-watch details.
Twitch’s engaged audience gives marketers more reason to invest in livestreaming
EMARKETER’s latest coverage frames Twitch as a platform where viewers stay deeply engaged, a quality that stands out to advertisers weighing where to spend limited livestreaming budgets.
Netflix inks day-and-date deal with YouTube travel star Drew Binsky
Netflix will stream a curated library of Binsky’s travel videos starting September 19, and going forward his new episodes will release day-and-date on Netflix alongside YouTube. Binsky has 7.3 million YouTube subscribers and 22 million followers across platforms.
DirecTV survey: out-of-home sports viewing rivals watching at home
DirecTV for Business polled 2,000 sports fans and found ballpark attendance edged out both home viewing and sports bars as the top choice, 31% versus 29% each.
Sports TV could revive the old “ad hoc network” model for live rights
TVREV traces the 1960s-70s “Love Network” and syndicators like TVS and Mizlou, who cleared local stations market by market for events lacking a permanent channel home. Gray Media, Scripps and TEGNA are already rebuilding similar station-based sports distribution today.
GTA VI preview tops Netflix’s global weekly chart
A 27-minute Grand Theft Auto VI preview drew 31.1 million views on Netflix over its debut weekend, ranking No. 1 on the English film list in 87 of 93 countries Netflix tracks.
Disney+ adds 1.1m UK homes as Sky ad-tier deal pays off
Barb’s Q2 2026 Establishment Survey shows Disney+ gained more than 1.1 million UK homes to reach 8.9 million, over 700,000 of them on its ad tier.
Google courts Hollywood studios for AI training rights on copyrighted IP
Google is pitching Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Universal on licensing deals to train AI models on copyrighted characters, reportedly offering around $40 million per character with potential ad-revenue sharing on outputs.
Kevin Hart’s Hartbeat locks 20-microseries slate with aTwist
Hartbeat will supply more than 20 original microseries to aTwist, the vertical-video platform launching this Thursday from veteran TV execs Jana Winograde, Susan Rovner and Lloyd Braun.
Streaming nears half of all US ad-supported TV viewing
Streaming made up 48.2 percent of ad-supported TV viewing time in the US during Q2 2026, per Nielsen’s Ad Supported Gauge.
Analyst: BBC, Netflix now chasing YouTube’s playbook as phones become the new TV
At Edinburgh TV Festival, YouTube’s Pedro Pina and BBC’s new DG both signaled convergence: YouTube called itself television while BBC floated an “iPlayer 2.0" with creator uploads and a public-service algorithm ahead of the license fee’s 2027 expiration.
Gracenote: 85% of sports fans want better TV navigation
Gracenote’s 2026 global sports fan report finds 26 percent often can’t identify which channel or service carries a specific event. Eighty-five percent want their TV home screen to show upcoming games and where-to-watch information for favorite teams and leagues.
YouTube leads CTV ad spend for fourth straight year, but M&A looms
YouTube topped Modern Retail’s Q1 2026 survey of ad-supported streaming placements for a fourth consecutive year. The report, based on 125 brand and agency professionals, warns the CTV landscape faces major shifts over the next 12 months.