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.
ProSieben cuts full-year guidance after 11% revenue decline
VideoWeek’s Tim Cross-Kovoor reports that ProSiebenSat.1 posted preliminary nine-month results showing group revenues down eleven percent year over year, even as cost cuts lifted profitability.
FlareFlow brings microdramas to Thailand via AIS Play telco deal
Variety’s Naman Ramachandran reports that COL Group’s FlareFlow will launch in Thailand on November 2 through AIS Play, priced at THB39 a month, with Singapore’s Rock Networks brokering the telco integration.
Cynopsis: ratings alone no longer define TV success
Cynopsis’s Alyssa Boyle reports that “Celebrity Traitors UK” drew 15.7 million viewers yet faced fan backlash, while Starz and TelevisaUnivision earnings show sports rights and subscriber retention now matter more than tune-in counts.
YouTube’s TV watch-time share nears parity with all of broadcast
nScreenMedia’s Colin Dixon reports that YouTube’s Nielsen Gauge share hit 15.8% in August, up from 13.1% a year earlier, while combined broadcast and cable fell to 36.4% from 41.6%.
Starz narrows losses as streaming growth offsets linear decline
TheWrap’s Lucas Manfredi reports Starz posted its second straight quarter of revenue growth, with total revenue up 0.5% to $322.4 million and net loss narrowing to $34.8 million.
Amazon releases TV’s first fully AI-generated series
The Ankler’s Alison Brower reports that Amazon’s Prime Video has become the first major streaming platform to distribute a fully AI-generated television series, “Castle Walls.”
Spain: Linear TV still leads daily viewing, Barlovento finds
Advanced Television’s Nik Roseveare reports that Barlovento Comunicación’s September 2026 audiovisual consumption report found adults 18-plus in Spain watched an average of 159 minutes of linear TV daily, with pay-TV accounting for nearly a third of total viewing.
Bloomberg’s Screentime gathers Sarandos, Langley, Affleck, O’Brien on AI and creators
Bloomberg is reporting, in its Screentime video special, that Ted Sarandos, Donna Langley, Ben Affleck and Conan O’Brien discuss how streaming, AI and the creator economy are reshaping Hollywood.
Study: political advertisers favor streaming TV for targeting
MediaPost cites a Premion and Advertiser Perceptions study finding political advertisers are shifting to streaming TV to stretch budgets. Of decision-makers polled, 32% plan political ad spend in the next six to 12 months, citing efficiency, targeting and measurement.
Analyst: media M&A shifts from dealmaking to the hard work of integration
TheWrap’s Jon Lafayette reports that TD Cowen analyst Doug Creutz says earnings season will be dominated by the fallout from Skydance’s completed Warner Bros. Discovery takeover and Fox’s pending Roku deal, with focus shifting to integration risk over deal value.
TBS, Toei Animation, TV Tokyo back anime licensing platform AniBiz.com
C21Media reports that Japanese media groups TBS, Toei Animation and TV Tokyo have invested in Nakama’s AniBiz.com, a licensing platform now connecting more than thirty anime rights holders with brands, retailers and agencies seeking IP deals.
RedBird, Sound Ventures form $1 billion AI and media investment partnership
TheWrap’s A.J. Katz reports that Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird Capital Partners and Guy Oseary’s Sound Ventures struck a $1 billion partnership to invest in technology, media and culture companies, pairing RedBird’s investment platform with Sound Ventures’ AI founder network.
Ampere: 65% of Netflix acquisitions are non-English, 50% on Disney+
C21Media reports that Ampere Analysis finds non-English-language content makes up 65% of Netflix’s acquired titles and 50% of Disney+‘s, as of September. Netflix leans toward Japanese and South Korean content, while Disney+‘s top source countries are Germany and Japan.
Amazon: Prime Video’s run rate now in the ‘tens of billions’
TheWrap’s Lucas Manfredi reports Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said Prime Video’s revenue run rate has reached the “tens of billions” of dollars and remains profitable.
Amazon: Prime Video now profitable, generates ‘tens of billions’ annually
Variety’s Todd Spangler reports that Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told analysts Prime Video is now profitable “in its own right,” with a revenue run rate in the tens of billions.
Amazon folds unlimited audiobooks into revamped Kindle+ bundle
Simon Owens’s Media Newsletter reports that Amazon is adding unlimited audiobook listening to Kindle Unlimited, rebranding the service Kindle+, a response to inroads from Spotify and YouTube into Amazon’s long-dominant audiobook market.
TF1 revenue falls 6.6% as linear ad slide offsets Netflix lift
Advanced Television reports that TF1’s nine-month revenue dropped 6.6 percent to 1.45 billion euros, even as TF1+ advertising revenue jumped 20.5 percent to 160 million euros on its Netflix partnership.
Network-affiliate tensions mount as 2027 political ad windfall fades
TVREV’s Tim Hanlon reports that broadcasters face a 6% revenue decline after 2026’s record $11.6 billion political ad cycle ends.
NYC production spending surges past New Jersey, closes in on California
Deadline’s Jill Goldsmith reports that New York production spend rose 87% to $1.61 billion in the third quarter per ProdPro, outpacing every other U.S. state and trailing only California’s $1.76 billion.
Netflix’s share of Nielsen’s streaming hits chart halves in five years
The Ankler reports that Netflix held 80% of titles on Nielsen’s weekly Top 10 streaming originals chart in 2021, a share that has since fallen to 51%.
Amazon MGM Studios doubles investment in Japanese original content
Deadline’s Liz Shackleton reports that Amazon MGM Studios’ new Japan head, Buddy Marini, said at TIFFCOM the company has doubled its investment in original Japanese content, expanding live-action and anime slates.
World Series Game 2 draws 10.9 million on Fox, Univision
The Ankler’s Sean McNulty reports that World Series Game 2 drew 10.9 million viewers in preliminary Nielsen numbers across Fox and Univision, down from 11.6 million for last year’s Game 2.
Puck: Skydance faces internal friction over Elon Musk ties at Warner Bros.
Puck’s Kim Masters reports that Skydance’s leadership is navigating tension inside Warner Bros. tied to Elon Musk’s involvement, as the studio works through integration after its takeover. The piece is paywalled, with only the headline and teaser text available ahead of the full report.
CTV ad requests mostly lack usable genre labels, Wurl finds
Digiday’s Tim Peterson reports that a Wurl analysis of a single prime-time window found only 11% of CTV ad requests carried a usable show name, while 93% had a genre label, but 35% of those labels didn’t match Wurl’s own classification.
Paramount TV Studios takes three of Nielsen’s top four streaming slots in September
Variety’s Michael Schneider reports that Nielsen’s September rankings put Paramount TV Studios’ “Reacher” at No. 1 with 4.6 billion minutes viewed, while its “Neagley” and “Lioness” tied for third at 3.3 billion minutes each.