Streaming
State of Play
Revised Sep 18, 2026The moment. Bundling came back in one week. Amazon launched a five-service Prime Video bundle of AMC+, BritBox, MGM+, PBS Masterpiece and Starz at $29.99 a month. Roku opened 30 bundle combinations through its Premium Subscriptions storefront at savings of up to 30% against buying each service alone. JustWatch, which spent a decade telling people where to watch things, becomes a service itself in October with JustWatch TV. Netflix, Amazon and YouTube founded the Streaming Access and Choice Alliance, a Washington lobbying group run by TechNet, under bipartisan criticism over the cost and complexity of watching sports. Digiday charted every major price change since 2019: Netflix’s ad-free tier rose from $10.99 to $19.99, Disney+ from $6.99 to $18.99.
The tension. The bundle is being rebuilt by the companies that sold unbundling, and the arithmetic that made unbundling attractive has closed. Cable’s share of US TV viewing fell to 21.2% in January 2026 from 35.6% in January 2021 while streaming climbed to 47% from 28.9% — and on the way, Peacock’s ad tier went from $7.99 to $10.99 and the Disney+/Hulu/HBO Max bundle from $16.99 to $20. Ad minutes per hour on the top nine premium streamers rose 18% between January and August. The customer who cut the cord to pay less is being sold a package again, at a price that has been climbing for seven years.
Who’s moving. Amazon, on the five-service bundle, and outspending Netflix and YouTube combined on sports rights. Roku, on 30 storefront bundles. JustWatch, turning a guide into an AVOD service. Netflix, Amazon and YouTube, jointly, in Washington. Ampere Analysis and Guggenheim Securities, counting the ad loads. Mediobanca, whose Media and Entertainment Report put the top 25 global operators at 362.8 billion euros in 2025 turnover, up 2.8%, with streaming up 13.4% to 22.2% of revenues. Comcast and Paramount Skydance, weighing a wind-down of SkyShowtime. Channel 4, cutting around 340 roles, 28% of its workforce. Sony, pitching PS5 FAST channels on 40 to 50 million engaged users. Byron Allen’s Local Now, adding 111 Gray Media stations.
What the desk is watching. Whether a rebuilt bundle slows churn or just raises the price of leaving, and whether the DC alliance is about sports costs or about getting ahead of the regulation that follows them.
New streaming series orders plunge, study finds
A new study finds streaming platforms sharply cut the number of new original series they greenlit, continuing a multi-year pullback in original programming.
Netflix agrees to report box office for six upcoming theatrical releases
Netflix will report box office grosses for six upcoming films, including Greta Gerwig’s “Narnia” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” Variety learned.
Streaming ad loads jump 18%, raising the creative bar
Streaming ad loads climbed 18% as platforms pack in more commercial minutes per hour, narrowing the gap with linear TV’s traditional load.
US linear orders fall less sharply than streaming, Ampere finds
Ampere Analysis found US linear orders fell 26% between 2022 and 2025, from 1,773 to 1,304, while streaming orders dropped 41%, from 1,144 to 678, over the same span.
Netflix households log 3.5 hours daily, most of any streamer
US households spent an average of 3.5 hours a day on Netflix in June 2026, up from 3.1 hours in March, ahead of every rival streaming service, per a Comscore survey.
Amazon cancels ‘Spider-Noir’ despite 11 Emmy nods and 2.6B viewing minutes
Prime Video will not renew “Spider-Noir,” Sony’s Nicolas Cage-led series, after one season.
Streaming price hikes are outpacing cable’s worst inflation years
Streaming rates have collectively risen 11.8 percent over the past year, versus a 3.9 percent annual average for cable and satellite historically.
Netflix, Prime Video diverge sharply on international content sourcing
Non-US titles make up nearly two-thirds of both Netflix and Prime Video’s US catalogs, far ahead of Hulu and Paramount+.
Amazon Ads pitches self-service streaming TV to small businesses
Amazon Ads has expanded its self-service Sponsored TV product to small U.S. businesses that don’t sell on Amazon, offering no minimum spend and access to Prime Video inventory.
Streaming latency now costs subscribers, survey finds
Big Blue Marble surveyed 5,027 consumers across seven markets and found 62 percent of live sports viewers have seen results or social reactions before the action reached their screen.
Apple TV leads HBO Max entering final Emmys night
After two nights of Emmy ceremonies covering 102 categories, Apple TV holds 19 awards led by Widow’s Bay’s 8 wins, ahead of HBO/HBO Max’s 16 led by DTF St. Louis’s 6, with Netflix trailing at 13.
Marketers split on where CTV budgets and identity fit
A Marketing Brew survey of readers found little consensus on CTV: 24% fund it from performance budgets, 17% treat it as its own line item, and just 8% pull from TV/video budgets.
FX’s Landgraf intervened to save Adults after a season one ratings flatline
FX’s Adults nearly died after weak season one ratings, but network chief John Landgraf made an unconventional request that reshaped season two. Creators Rebecca Shaw and Ben Kronengold detail the redirect in a new Q&A.
CNN’s free FAST channel finds an audience, not yet a business model
CNN Headlines has reached over 60 million people this year, with monthly time spent tripling and streams topping 5 million in a single day during the Iran War, CNN said.
Apple’s new operations chief inherits a two-decade innovation gap
John Ternus took over Apple this week. This opinion column argues Apple has coasted on design and reputation while Siri, Apple Music, Apple TV hardware, HomePod and its iWork apps all lag category leaders like Alexa, Spotify and Google.
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
The article’s actual body text was not available in this crawl, only navigation and a related-articles list. No verbatim excerpt on livestreaming ad repetition could be sourced from the retrieved page content.
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.