Streaming
State of Play
Revised Nov 1, 2026The moment. Netflix delivered its Q3 forecast, revenue up 12% to $12.9 billion at a 34.6% operating margin, and then lowered its own sights: Variety’s Brian Steinberg reports the 2026 ad revenue projection cut to $2.7 billion from $3 billion, blamed on delays to new ad products while a supply glut hands buyers leverage on price. The Pixel and The Trade Desk are the answer it has offered. The house kept moving: Bela Bajaria and film chief Dan Lin are out, Peter Rice is in, 1,000 jobs are gone, David Fincher has exited, and The Ankler’s Richard Rushfield is already handicapping the film job. Skydance closed its $110 billion Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger and immediately looked like a company under pressure: a five-day office mandate paired with voluntary buyouts, a mandate to make 30 films a year, a reported $1 billion Elon Musk stake that Puck says is causing friction inside Warner Bros., and a review of whether to keep FreeWheel as its ad server.
The tension. Netflix is being asked to prove the ad tier can carry a slowing business while the engagement evidence goes the other way. Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw reports customers opening the app on fewer days per month than two years ago; The Ankler counts Netflix’s share of Nielsen’s weekly originals chart down from 80% of titles in 2021 to 51%; Nobody Wants This opened its third season to 6.2 million views against 10.3 million for its first. Reed Hastings says the answer to YouTube is more and better shows, while YouTube takes a record 15.8% of US TV usage, more than twice Netflix’s share, and Instagram, Disney, Tubi and Amazon chase it into long creator video. Apple TV is running the opposite bet, with 18% of its catalog unscripted against Netflix’s 25% and HBO Max’s 72%. Sports is where the money still behaves: Thursday Night Football averages 17.7 million viewers on Prime Video through Week 7, up 12%, with advertisers up 6%, while automakers pull out of prime time for streaming and regional spots.
Who’s moving. Netflix, cutting its 2026 ad forecast to $2.7 billion. Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw, on fewer qualified play days. Reed Hastings, on out-creating YouTube rather than copying it. Skydance’s David Ellison and Ynon Kreiz, on a five-day office and voluntary buyouts. Elon Musk, with a reported $1 billion stake. Paramount TV Studios, with three of Nielsen’s top four streaming slots in September. Comcast’s Michael Cavanagh, making deeper Peacock-YouTube bundling a priority. Amazon, at 17.7 million Thursday Night Football viewers. Apple TV, holding to scripted. Automakers, leaving prime time for streaming and local deals. Disney+, taking Channel 4’s linear feed in the UK and Ireland in early 2027. TVREV’s Tim Hanlon, on affiliates facing a 6% decline once the political money ends.
What the desk is watching. Whether the $2.7 billion forecast holds once the Pixel and The Trade Desk are live, and whether Skydance keeps FreeWheel or hands its streaming ad tech to Google.
Samsung TV Plus adds four BBC Studios channels across Europe
Advanced Television reports that Samsung TV Plus signed a multi-territory deal with BBC Studios to launch four channels on its free ad-supported service across 11 European markets.
Inside Skydance’s new power structure under Ellison
The Ankler’s Elaine Low and Lesley Goldberg report that David Ellison now has 15 direct reports, with co-CEO Ynon Kreiz and president Andy Gordon emerging as his key lieutenants atop a newly merged Skydance.
DMEXCO 2026: CTV debates shift from agentic ad protocols to proof of authenticity
The Drum’s Sarah Lewis reports that DMEXCO 2026 conversations in CTV centered on agentic buying protocols and authenticity verification, with vendors pitching frameworks for machine-driven ad transactions.
NBC gives Line of Fire a back order after ratings gains
Deadline’s Nellie Andreeva reports that NBC picked up five additional scripts for freshman drama Line of Fire, the first 2026-27 broadcast series to get a back order.
eMarketer: CTV buyers should target fandom, not demographic personas
eMarketer’s Gadjo Sevilla reports that CTV audience strategy is shifting toward targeting fandom and passion communities rather than traditional demographic personas.
Skydance ad revenue seen hitting $21B by 2027
MediaPost’s Wayne Friedman reports that combined Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery ad revenue is projected to reach $19.0 billion to $21.6 billion in 2027, up from $18.5 billion to $20.7 billion in 2026, driven largely by streaming growth.
Bomanbridge acquires Arcadia’s 500-hour factual catalogue at Mipcom
C21Media reports that Bomanbridge Media has signed a five-year deal for international distribution rights to Arcadia Entertainment’s 500-hour factual catalogue, covering streaming, AVoD, FAST and educational platforms, with Canada excluded.
Netflix and Neon set up an Oscar showdown over international feature
The Ankler’s Katey Rich reports that Netflix’s La Bola Negra enters the international feature Oscar race in prime position, but Neon’s Palme d’Or winner threatens to spoil it.
A timeline of the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery megadeal
TechCrunch’s Lauren Forristal recaps how Paramount beat Netflix’s $82.7 billion bid with a $111 billion offer for Warner Bros. Discovery, surviving a 12-state antitrust lawsuit and a judge’s pause before closing on October 6.
Skydance, Movistar Plus expand deal, launch joint Spanish originals label
The Hollywood Reporter’s Georg Szalai reports that Skydance and Movistar Plus signed a new two-year global agreement keeping HBO Max on the Spanish platform, adding Skydance channels and Warner Bros. theatrical releases, and launching a joint Movistar Plus/HBO Original local-series label.
Peacock’s Super Mario Galaxy tops Nielsen’s Q3 streaming movie chart
The Ankler’s Sean McNulty reports Nielsen’s Q3 2026 U.S. streaming movie chart shows Peacock’s Super Mario Galaxy outranking titles from Netflix and Amazon, pulling 21.7 million views in its first five weeks versus comparable animated releases on rival platforms.
Skydance names JB Perrette to run international TV and streaming
Deadline’s Max Goldbart reports that Skydance has clarified its international leadership, with JB Perrette taking the dual role of Co-Chair & Chief Business Officer across Skydance TV and Direct-To-Consumer outside the U.S.
Discovery+ raises prices as its fate under Skydance stays unsettled
The Hollywood Reporter’s Caitlin Huston reports Discovery+ is raising its ad-supported plan by $1 to $6.99 a month and its ad-free plan by $2 to $11.99 a month, effective immediately for new subscribers, with existing ones getting 30 days notice.
Accenture exec: media M&A can’t buy its way out of disruption
Variety’s John Peters argues that Paramount Skydance’s purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery proves scale alone won’t fix fragmentation, since Accenture research finds the number of media types consumers favor jumped from two in 2022 to six in 2025.
Sorkin’s Facebook movie flops with $5.5 million opening despite Oscar-winning predecessor
The Ankler reports that Sony’s “The Social Reckoning,” Aaron Sorkin’s follow-up to “The Social Network,” opened to just $5.5 million domestically against a $30 million budget.
MIPCOM 2026 market shows TV sellers chasing format hits amid platform disruption
The Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Roxborough reports that MIPCOM, the world’s largest television trade fair running October twelve through fifteen, opens with buyers hunting spy thrillers, royal romances and unscripted formats even as vertical dramas, AI production and YouTube reshape the business.
YouTube pitches itself as TV’s partner, not its killer, at Mipcom
The Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Roxborough reports that YouTube VP Pedro Pina and RTL Deutschland CEO Stephan Schmitter told Mipcom that YouTube wants to work with legacy broadcasters, not replace them.
Skydance’s merger scale cuts both ways for media competition
TheWrap’s A.J. Katz writes that Skydance’s completed $110 billion Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger gives it scale to rival Netflix and Disney, combining CBS, CNN, HBO, and major sports rights under one owner.
Vizio adds 40+ creator channels, taps Walmart Connect for CTV ad push
Marketing Dive’s Jessica Hammers reports that Vizio is adding more than 40 creator-led channels to WatchFree+, featuring MrBeast and Amaury Guichon, alongside a Geico-sponsored original film and new premium partnerships with MGM, NBCUniversal and Disney.
YouTube and RTL Germany tout content partnership, revenue-share deal
C21Media reports that YouTube and Germany’s RTL are hailing a content partnership built around a revenue-share model, though the article’s full terms sit behind a paywall.
Netflix’s Bajaria: no regrets over losing Warner Bros. bid to Skydance
Deadline’s Max Goldbart reports that Netflix’s Bela Bajaria told a MIPCOM audience the streamer has no regrets over its failed $83 billion bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, which Paramount-Skydance won for $110 billion, calling WBD “a nice to have at a certain price, not a must have at any price.”
Media War & Peace maps the “Ellison Risk” tying Skydance to Oracle’s debt
Media War & Peace’s Evan Shapiro reports that his new interactive Media Map App values merged Skydance at $29 billion, far below the $111 billion Ellison paid, citing combined Ellison-family debt across Skydance and Oracle nearing $290 billion, almost entirely junk-rated.
Rakuten TV expands FAST service to U.S., Japan and Middle East
The Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Roxborough reports that Rakuten TV is taking its free ad-supported streaming business outside Europe, launching exclusive owned channels in the U.S. via TCLtv+, plus rollouts in the Middle East and Japan.
Analyst pegs new Skydance’s net worth at $29B, not $111B WBD price
Deadline’s Jesse Whittock reports that media cartographer Evan Shapiro values the merged Skydance at just $29 billion, citing its $81 billion assumed debt and ties to Oracle’s $160 billion in AI-driven borrowing.
TVREV: Paramount’s Ellison family is quietly building a cross-platform oligopoly
TVREV’s Jason Damata argues that while the industry fixates on Paramount’s debt and leadership, the Ellisons’ combined stakes in TikTok and a growing IP portfolio position them to redesign cross-platform entertainment.