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.
UK video ad spend jumps 18% as TV+ takes a third of investment
VideoWeek’s Dan Meier reports that UK digital ad spend hit £21.2 billion in H1 2026, up 13 percent year over year, according to IAB UK and mediasense.
VMAs’ NFL lead-in drives biggest audience since 2015
The Ankler’s Sean McNulty reports the VMAs drew 8.4 million viewers across CBS and MTV in preliminary Nielsen numbers, up 51% from last year’s 5.6 million.
Netflix’s Lizzie Borden ‘Monster’ season gains 20% in week two
TheWrap’s Jose Alejandro Bastidas reports that “Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story” grew viewership 20% from its premiere week to 14.5 million views, staying No. 1 on Netflix’s Global English TV list while expanding its top 10 country footprint from 89 to 92.
Fox News extends its lead by building digital IP beyond the linear feed
Simon Owens reports that Fox News is winning linear TV ratings while also building out digital-only media properties, a growing podcast network, and leveraging its ownership stakes in Tubi and Roku.
eMarketer: Price beats every other streaming perk with viewers
eMarketer’s Peter Clark reports that streaming subscribers rank price as the top factor in deciding which services to keep, ahead of content library size, ad-free viewing, and exclusive originals.
Deutsche Bank upgrades Netflix to buy despite September stock slide
CNBC’s Fred Imbert reports that Deutsche Bank analyst Bryan Kraft upgraded Netflix to buy from hold even as the stock has fallen more than 14% in September, its worst month since June.
CTV now over half of premium video ad views in Europe, FreeWheel finds
Advanced Television reports that FreeWheel’s latest Video Monetisation Report found CTV hit 53 percent of premium video ad views in Europe in H1 2026, with total programmatic ad views up 44 percent year over year and live ad views rising to 32 percent.
Amazon’s Prime Video chief says AI can cut costs, unleash creativity
Deadline’s Max Goldbart reports that Prime Video international chief Kelly Day told RTS London that AI “brings down costs” and lets more diverse stories get made.
JustWatch launches its own streaming service, JustWatch TV
Campaign US reports that JustWatch is launching JustWatch TV, a standalone AVOD, rental and subscription service debuting in October across 12 markets.
Apple TV says post-Emmys week was its biggest ever, but still no hard numbers
Deadline’s Nellie Andreeva reports Apple TV had its highest weekly viewership ever for the week of September 14, up 67% year-over-year, driven by Mayday, Ted Lasso and post-Emmy surges for Widow’s Bay and Pluribus.
Warner Bros. staff brace for mass layoffs as Paramount deal clears
Puck’s Kim Masters reports that with California Attorney General Rob Bonta having settled, Paramount Skydance’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery is now hitting Hollywood, with insiders describing a grim mood inside Warners over expected job cuts.
Paramount launches $44 billion debt sale to fund Warner Bros. Discovery deal
TheWrap’s Jeremy Fuster reports that Paramount Skydance filed a $44 billion debt offering with the SEC, split between $32 billion in investment-grade debt and $12.4 billion in high-yield bonds, to help fund its $110 billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery.
HBO Max tops August linear TV promo reach ranking, per iSpot
StreamTV Insider’s Bevin Fletcher reports that HBO Max ranked No. 1 in iSpot’s Streamers TV Promo Power Ranking for August, capturing 16.55% of streaming promo linear reach.
Just Like a Prayer: VMAs 2026 draw 8.4 million viewers, best since 2015
TheWrap’s Loree Seitz reports the 2026 VMAs pulled 8.43 million viewers across CBS and MTV, up 51% from 2025’s 5.6 million, marking the best same-day audience since 2015’s 12.73 million.
Prime Video renews ‘Reacher’ for Season 6, days after Season 4 wraps
Deadline’s Nellie Andreeva reports that Prime Video renewed ‘Reacher’ for Season 6 just 12 days after the Season 4 finale, its second renewal this year, keeping the show on a yearly production cadence.
Maybe You’re Gonna be the One that Saves Me: Disney sets Oct. 9 streaming date for Oasis reunion documentary
Deadline’s Max Goldbart reports that Disney+ and Hulu will premiere “Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger” on October 9, following a theatrical run that made it the UK’s highest-grossing documentary of 2026.
Watch this space: Evan Shapiro shows how kids content economics are collapsing, but fixes exists
Media War & Peace’s Evan Shapiro revisits his Kids Content Landscape Analysis with Common Sense Media, arguing traditional ad and subscription models for children’s programming have collapsed as YouTube monetization declines and streamers pull back on original kids IP.
Netflix extends Sesame Street deal through season 62, orders Gabby’s Dollhouse spin-off
C21Media reports that Netflix has extended its Sesame Street deal with Sesame Workshop through season 62 and greenlit a Gabby’s Dollhouse spin-off plus a new preschool series.
Netflix expands ads to 9 more European countries starting March 2027
The Media Leader FR reports that Netflix will launch its ad tier in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Norway, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and Switzerland from March 1, 2027, reaching roughly 113 million more people.
Survey: 80% of UK TV owners stream more than they watch live TV
Advanced Television reports that a survey from Expert Reviews’ 2026 TV Awards found 80 percent of UK TV owners use their television to stream films and shows, compared with 64 percent who watch live broadcast TV and 55 percent who watch live sport.
Kevin Mayer: Paramount-Warner merger’s “synergies” mean layoffs
Deadline’s Melanie Goodfellow reports that ex-Disney exec Kevin Mayer, speaking at the Zurich Summit, called Paramount-Warner Bros consolidation inevitable amid declining revenues, predicted Warner Bros stays separate, and warned that $6 billion in promised synergies means heavy layoffs.
Financiers weigh in on proposed US federal film tax credit
Deadline’s Andreas Wiseman reports that film financiers at the Zurich Summit reacted to last week’s bipartisan bill proposing a 20% federal production incentive, rising to 30% with bonuses, that would apply to projects starting in 2027 if passed.
Shawn Levy exits Netflix for overall deal at Disney’s 20th Television
Deadline’s Nellie Andreeva reports that Shawn Levy and his 21 Laps Entertainment have signed a multi-year overall deal with 20th Television, part of Disney Television Studios, ending his decade-plus TV tenure at Netflix.
Intuition and Creative Inspiration Can Beat the Data: Harlan Coben’s Netflix formula: no data, low budgets, huge audiences
Data is a critical input, but that should also inform something better than a GPT or spreadsheet, human intuition. The Ankler’s Manori Ravindran reports that thriller author Harlan Coben, who has produced 13 Netflix shows, says he never lets audience data change a plot point.
Toy Story Takeover: hits 20 million Disney+ views in first five days
Deadline’s Anthony D’Alessandro reports that Disney/Pixar’s “Toy Story 5" cleared 20 million views in its first five days on Disney+, enough to feasibly rank as the service’s No. 1 film, building on the franchise’s 2 billion streamed hours globally. And if you look at Disney+ most watched titles?