Platform strategy now spans four business models at once: OTT, SVOD, AVOD, and FAST. This category covers recommendation engines, content discovery, CTV app experience, player SDKs, and the subscriber engagement data that tells you whether a feature actually worked.
Roku has introduced a new "Creator" hub within The Roku Channel, designed to feature new content and free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channels originating from creators. This initiative aims to expand the content offerings available on Roku's platform.
This article speculates on the potential consumer cost implications of the rising media rights for the NFL, suggesting that these costs could lead to consumers paying significantly more per year for access to NFL content. It discusses the fragmented landscape of NFL broadcasting across various platforms and the potential for increased subscription burdens on viewers.
TNT Sports will make the UEFA Champions League final exclusively available on its pay-TV service and HBO Max streaming platform in the UK for the first time, ending free-to-air broadcasts. This decision aims to drive subscriptions for these services. The change takes effect for the upcoming final in May 2026.
Nielsen data for March showed that cable and broadcast TV viewership declined, while streaming services gained market share. Overall cable viewership rose to 21.4% in March from February due to the NCAA March Madness tournament and increased news viewing, but general declines were noted.
Stephen Colbert's departure from CBS's late-night programming is attributed to budget cuts, signaling a trend of cost reduction across traditional network late-night formats. This event suggests potential shifts in how networks approach and finance late-night television content.
The UEFA Women's Champions League Final 2026 will be available for free-to-air viewing across Europe. This access is facilitated through extensive coverage provided by member organizations of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
Apple has secured a five-year deal to stream Formula One races in the U.S. on Apple TV. The company plans to expand this offering to other global markets, although differing media rights cycles may delay this until 2026.
According to the JustWatch Q1 2026 Streaming Charts report, Netflix significantly narrowed the gap with market leader Amazon Prime Video in India's SVOD market, gaining four percentage points to reach 22%, now just one point behind Prime Video's 23%. JioHotstar holds 19% and Apple TV+ 17%, with the top four platforms accounting for 81% of measured user interest. The report highlights Netflix's consistent month-on-month growth during the quarter amidst a tightening competitive landscape.
YouTube's CEO, Neal Mohan, revealed that subscription revenue constitutes one-third of the company's total revenue. This financial model also creates advertising opportunities for the platform on traditional television.
Brightcove has released Prism, a redesigned platform interface aimed at enhancing user experience and efficiency for its video technology. The company states this redesign focuses on making the platform easier and faster to use.
Review article assesses the positive experience of streaming the NBA Playoffs across Peacock and Amazon Prime Video. It highlights the successful delivery of live sports through these platforms.
The BBC announced plans to integrate interactive technology, new digital-first programs, and immersive VR experiences into its FIFA World Cup coverage. These features will be available following every England and Scotland match during the tournament.
Regional sports networks (RSNs) utilize a variety of distribution and monetization strategies, including vMVPDs, OTA, cable, and DTC, to cater to their local fan bases. The article highlights how RSNs like Space City Home Network and NESN optimize these methods to serve both casual and dedicated sports fans.
HBO Max has launched podcast offerings on its platform in Europe. This initiative aims to expand the content available directly within the HBO Max service for European subscribers.
Google and Samsung's XR platform will power upcoming smart glasses from Warby Parker and Gentle Monster. The article provides a first look at these devices, indicating consumer-facing augmented/extended reality devices integrating video.
YouTube has outlined various restrictions that can lead to temporary or permanent suspension of live streaming capabilities on its platform. These restrictions include violations related to age restrictions for minors, Community Guidelines breaches (e.g., copyright, content featuring minors without adult supervision, firearms policy), and 'made for kids' content settings which disable or restrict features like live chat and personalized ads.
FOX Sports announced its 2026 NFL regular season broadcast schedule, which expands its streaming and linear offerings to include more windows than any other network. Highlights include a tripleheader in Week 10 with an international game from Munich, a new Week 15 Saturday window, and a primetime Christmas Day game, with viewing options across FOX, FOX One, FOX Deportes, and the FOX Sports digital platforms.
Setplex received the NAB Show Project of the Year Award in the Distribution category for its deployment with UVOtv. This award recognizes Setplex’s end-to-end IPTV/OTT platform capabilities in supporting large-scale distribution workflows for service providers.
FreeCast announced its Platform-as-a-Service strategy for FY2026-27, offering a white-label streaming toolkit to satellite and telecom operators globally. This initiative aims to enable these operators to launch their own branded streaming platforms.
Warner Bros. Discovery will provide over 900 matches from Roland-Garros across HBO Max, TNT Sports, and Eurosport, with live coverage of the main draw starting on May 24th. This offering aims to be the "most complete Roland-Garros viewing experience ever" by the company.
ScreenHits, a streaming and content discovery platform, has collaborated with CNN International Commercial to integrate CNN Headlines International into its in-car platform, allowing for content consumption within vehicles.
Spotify has reduced its Premium Standard plan price in India by 30%, from ₹199 to ₹139 per month, and simultaneously discontinued its Lite tier. This price adjustment and tier removal occurred six months after the Lite tier's initial launch in the Indian market.
Dish TV India Ltd has launched 'VZY', an integrated entertainment ecosystem. This new offering combines existing streaming platforms, live television, and premium smart TV functionalities into a single service.
Brazilian streamer CazéTV has secured exclusive broadcasting rights for LaLiga football in Brazil for the next six seasons. This agreement allows CazéTV to stream all LaLiga matches directly to its audience.
This article serves as a commercial guide to the FIFA World Cup 2026, highlighting details about the event's scale, including 48 teams, 104 matches, and three host nations. It broadly discusses the broadcasting landscape for this major sporting event.
Devoncroft Partners announced its 2026 Executive Summit | Amsterdam will be held on September 10 at the Pathé Tuschinski Theater. The summit will gather decision-makers, including media technology suppliers, buyers, and investors, to discuss market developments and business transformation in the media technology sector.
A market analysis report indicates that streaming device penetration in the United States has surpassed 65%, with over 110 million units currently installed. This data provides insights into the growth and market size of streaming devices in the US.
A survey of over 3,500 cord cutters indicates that Roku maintains market dominance with 58% of the market share. The article questions Google TV's ability to compete with Roku and Apple TV based on survey data.
AMC+ has secured exclusive U.S. streaming rights to all thirteen seasons and 176 episodes, including specials, of the BBC series 'Doctor Who'. This agreement designates AMC+ as the new U.S. streaming home for the award-winning show.
YouTube is improving the viewing experience for connected TV (CTV) users by introducing new features to its CTV app, including Chapters, Title Cards, Like Counts, and Immersive Headers. These updates aim to enhance the living room viewing experience for audiences accessing YouTube content on larger screens.
Samsung Malaysia announced that its entire 2026 television lineup will integrate AI technology. This move signifies Samsung's full transition to what it terms the 'AI TV era' across all new models for that year.
An analysis reports that the average age of TV series broadcast on networks for the 26/27 season will be nine years old, three times the average age compared to the 96/97 season. This indicates a general trend towards longer-running shows on traditional broadcast television.
The median age of linear television viewers has risen to over 64 years, with news programs skewing the oldest (67-71 years) and primetime shows ranging from 58-73 years. In contrast, streaming platforms attract audiences that are frequently 20-25 years younger than their linear counterparts, even for the same programs, with specific examples provided for both linear primetime series and cable news networks.
YouTube CEO Neal Mohan highlighted the platform's strategy focusing on creators, subscriptions, connected TV (CTV), and artificial intelligence (AI) as key growth drivers. Mohan underscored the importance of these areas for YouTube's continued expansion.
The article fact-checks rumors regarding Netflix launching a free, ad-supported tier subscription. It indicates that Netflix has confirmed it is not launching such a tier at this time, contrary to speculation.
Netflix is reportedly implementing another unpopular change following a price increase for its ad-supported Basic tier in March. The article indicates this new move will also be unpopular.
Spotify is expanding its free-tier managed accounts feature to allow parents to control music for children under 13 in six new markets. These markets include Argentina, Colombia, Denmark, Italy, New Zealand, and Sweden.
Netflix has renewed five popular shows following its annual Netflix Upfront panel. The renewed series include 'Ginny & Georgia,' 'The Lincoln Lawyer,' 'Sweet Magnolia,' 'Selling Sunset,' and 'Stranger Things Season 5: The Final Chapter.' These renewals indicate Netflix's continued investment in established original content.
Google TV is set to receive a technical upgrade next year that will reduce app loading times and improve overall performance. This enhancement aims to bring Google TV's user experience closer to that offered by Apple TV 4K.
Viewers criticized the volume of commercials during CBS's final-round coverage of the PGA Championship, citing that it limited live golf content. The complaints were primarily vocalized on social media platforms.
The Kansas City Chiefs are expected to play the Los Angeles Chargers in the NFL's first-ever game in São Paulo, Brazil, scheduled for Friday, September 5th. This international game will be offered for bid among the league's broadcasting partners. Additionally, the Chiefs are anticipated to play on Christmas Day for the third consecutive year, seeking to become a holiday fixture.
Nielsen identifies five key trends for the upcoming 2025 Upfronts, including linear TV maintaining its lead in ad-supported viewing, the growth of multiplatform TV experiences, increased competition among streaming services, the rising importance of sports content across both linear and streaming, and the opportunity for streamers to reach diverse audiences through multi-language and deep-library content. These trends are supported by Nielsen's data, including its Gauge and Ad-Supported Gauge reports.
Pluto TV has discontinued at least seven live channels, including four kids' channels, while expanding its Nickelodeon-branded offerings. The removed channels include 'Rainbow Squad' and 'No Parents Allowed,' though most associated programs remain available on-demand. Simultaneously, Pluto TV's Nickelodeon channel lineup has changed, with 'Nickelodeon iCarly TV' reverting to airing 'VICTORiOUS' and various older Nickelodeon programs being added to 'Nickelodeon 90s Kids 2' and 'Nickelodeon Totally Turtles' channels.
MwareTV's blog post details the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) launching white-label IPTV services by 2026, breaking down costs into middleware platforms, content delivery (CDN), content licensing, and app store/device fees. It presents a business case that highlights churn reduction and ARPU increase as primary motivators for ISPs to add TV bundles, estimating a 10,000-subscriber service would cost approximately €3.20/subscriber/month with a 60% gross margin.
Scripted network television is seeing an unexpected increase in show counts for the 2026-27 season, with 55 scripted series planned across the big four networks (ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC), up from 54 in the previous season. This increase is attributed to fewer cancellations (six compared to 20 last year) and a growing recognition of the synergistic relationship between traditional broadcast networks and their associated streaming platforms.
Shemaroo Entertainment acquired OHO Gujarati's content library to expand its ShemarooMe service, while Amazon integrated its free Amazon MX Player with Prime Video to create a unified streaming platform. These moves highlight a trend of consolidation in the Indian OTT market driven by cost efficiencies, customer retention, and monetization strategies. Other platforms like JioHotstar are also exploring new revenue streams such as contextual commerce and AI-led personalization.
Bitmovin highlights how its Analytics product provides observability to identify playback issues, improve video quality, and reduce churn for streaming services. The solution offers real-time insights for optimizing streaming workflows. The article emphasizes improving the overall streaming experience for viewers.
Disney announced that "Avatar: Fire and Ash" will be available to stream exclusively on Disney+ starting June 24. This marks a direct-to-streaming release for the content, expanding Disney+'s content library with a new title from the "Avatar" universe.
Open Video has launched a white-label video platform designed for creators, allowing them to host videos on their own websites, import from YouTube, and customize their channel's branding. The platform emphasizes creator ownership, direct audience engagement, and allows creators to retain 100% of their earnings.
The E.W. Scripps Company unveiled new original programming across its entertainment, news, and sports networks Bounce, Grit, Scripps News, and its free streaming channel Scripps Sports Network, ahead of its annual upfront event. This includes a partnership with Kevin Hart's Hartbeat Productions for a series on Bounce, Alisyn Camerota hosting a new series on Scripps News, and Suzy Kolber and Sanya Richards-Ross leading shows on the new Scripps Sports Network.
