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.
Netflix, Disney+ eye free tiers as FAST goes mainstream
Sony launched a free ad-supported service on PS5, Paramount+ is testing free mobile content, and Disney’s Josh D’Amaro has floated a free Disney+ tier.
Parks Associates: live TV still sways streaming bundle choice
Parks Associates research finds live TV access remains a significant factor for consumers when picking a streaming bundle, even as on-demand and ad-supported tiers proliferate across the market.
Netflix licenses ‘Sex Lives of College Girls’ from Warner Bros.
Netflix added all three seasons of HBO Max’s “The Sex Lives of College Girls” via a non-exclusive licensing deal with Warner Bros. Television, joining Mindy Kaling’s Netflix original “Never Have I Ever.”
Sony launches FAST service Live TV on PS5, adding ad inventory
Sony launched Live TV on PS5, a free ad-supported streaming service with over 100 channels, drawing on content from Lionsgate, Fox, NBCU, Bloomberg, Spotify and A+E. It’s live in the US now, with Canada and other markets planned.
HBO Max to stream weekly filmed episodes of Howard Stern’s show
HBO Max struck a deal with Howard Stern’s production company and SiriusXM to release filmed episodes of “The Howard Stern Show” weekly, starting Sept. 17 worldwide, as his radio show scales back to one broadcast per week.
Howard Stern brings weekly filmed show to HBO Max
HBO Max will stream weekly filmed episodes of The Howard Stern Show starting September 17, adapted from his SiriusXM broadcast. The deal pairs HBO Max with SiriusXM and Stern’s own production company for global distribution.
Netflix’s GTA VI first look drove a 24% spike in app downloads
Sensor Tower found Netflix’s U.S. app downloads rose 24% the day it posted an extended GTA VI first look, with iOS downloads up 54% as the app jumped to 35th on the App Store’s free chart.
Netflix renews Shane Gillis’ ‘Tires’ for Season 4
Netflix has formally greenlighted a fourth season of Tires, part of its overall deal with Shane Gillis and John McKeever. Season 3 hit its highest-ever Global Top 10 ranking, reaching #5 the week of August 17.
Magnite sponsors CTV video series on data, TV OS and live sports
TVREV’s sponsored “Making Waves” series features Magnite’s Kristen Williams on data partnerships, Samsung Ads’ Youssef Ben-Youssef on the TV operating system’s expanding role, and Magnite’s Paige Bilins on programmatic buying in live sports.
Sony launches 100+ FAST channels on PS5 to sell ads against gamers
Sony Pictures Television unveiled “Live TV on PS5,” over 100 free ad-supported channels reachable through the console, launching first in the U.S. with Canada and Bravia TVs to follow. Publica and PubMatic will handle the connected-TV ad sales.
Xbox shops bulk Hollywood rights deal worth $300 million-plus
Microsoft’s Xbox division is quietly pitching Hollywood on a package of more than a dozen game franchises, including Halo, World of Warcraft, Elder Scrolls, and Diablo, for a single studio or streamer.
Netflix crashed showing a game trailer, and Take-Two shares jumped
Netflix aired an extended GTA 6 preview Thursday, a rare move for the streamer, and viewers hit error messages from overload; Twitch saw similar bandwidth issues.
Dolly Parton tribute specials give broadcast TV a rare summer ratings win
ABC’s 20/20 tribute to Dolly Parton drew 4.05 million live-plus-same-day viewers, its best non-sports 10 p.m. telecast in three months, while CBS’s competing special pulled 2.1 million the same night.
Apptopia data: Netflix losing YouTube users even as it courts YouTube creators
Netflix is spending heavily to sign top YouTube creators, but new Apptopia mobile data shows the reach imbalance between the two has flipped since January.
Why YouTube covets an Emmy so badly
Simon Owens’s newsletter previews a paid piece asking why YouTube is chasing Emmy recognition, alongside a companion discussion on whether BuzzFeed and HuffPost’s scale-first model was ever viable.
Apple TV raises US price to $15 a month, ups Apple One to $22
Apple TV’s US monthly price rises $2 to $15, with Apple One climbing to $22 a month, timed just before Ted Lasso’s October 7 finale caps its highest-profile original series run.
Apple TV buys BBC comedy hit Small Prophets worldwide
Apple TV acquired worldwide rights to Mackenzie Crook’s Small Prophets from Sphere Abacus, launching October 7 outside the UK. The BBC Two series drew the best 28-day comedy ratings since 2022 and holds a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score.
Apple TV raises monthly price to $14.99, second hike in a year
Apple TV’s monthly price rises to $14.99 from $12.99, with the annual plan up to $119 from $99, effective August 28 for new and existing U.S. subscribers.
The case against Netflix becoming an everything app
Netflix has discussed reselling Peacock and Fox One inside its app, per the New York Times, echoing Amazon’s and Roku’s channel-store model. It’s the second such report in a month, following the Wall Street Journal’s account of bundle talks.
Fox Sports jumps to No. 2 on YouTube as World Cup highlights drive views
Fox Sports’ YouTube channel rose from No. 8 in June to No. 2 in July, drawing 35.6 million unique U.S. viewers, a 46% month-over-month increase driven by Men’s FIFA World Cup highlights.
DAZN buys EverPass, gains Sunday Ticket commercial streaming rights
DAZN acquired EverPass, rebranding it DAZN for Business and picking up exclusive commercial streaming rights to NFL Sunday Ticket, plus NFL, RedBird and TKO as minority shareholders.
Lanterns opens at No. 2 as Reacher holds streaming’s top spot
HBO Max’s DC Universe series “Lanterns” debuts at No. 2 on Samba’s weekly chart, unable to unseat Amazon’s “Reacher,” which holds the top spot for a second straight week during its fourth season.
Study: Americans now watch more YouTube than live TV
A new study finds American viewers spend more time watching YouTube than they do watching live television, a shift that underscores streaming’s growing dominance over traditional broadcast viewing habits nationwide. The report frames YouTube as a primary screen destination.
Studios shift summer movie ad dollars from broadcast to CTV
Connected TV ad impressions for movies rose 16% this summer to 17.7 billion, per AdImpact, while broadcast movie spots fell 50% to 93,600 airings.
Why advertisers still snub YouTube despite its TV-sized reach
Tubular Labs data shows sports made up just 6% of U.S. YouTube views in 2026, even with the World Cup and Winter Olympics airing, and nearly two-thirds of those sports videos ran under one minute long.