Streaming in 2026 is entering a reset phase, driven by shifting audience behaviour, fragmented discovery and changing business models across the connected TV ecosystem. Based on a survey of 61 senior streaming, CTV and distribution executives, this report identifies ten trends – spanning AI, FAST, sports access, operating systems, consolidation and youth viewing habits – that are reshaping how streaming platforms compete, grow and retain influence in the year ahead.
As the streaming market matures, leaders are confronting a core strategic challenge: how audiences find content in an environment where navigation, promotion and attention are no longer controlled solely within individual apps. Discovery is becoming less predictable, influence is spreading across interfaces and business models, and long-established assumptions about visibility and control are being re-evaluated.
The Big Reset: 10 Trends Reshaping Streaming in 2026 brings these insights together to show where power is shifting across the ecosystem, which strategies are gaining traction, and how platforms are adapting as streaming enters its next phase.
Key Industry Predictions for Streaming in 2026:
AI Assistants Will Become the New Gatekeepers of Discovery: Industry leaders predict that AI viewing assistants and system-level recommendation layers will increasingly determine which titles viewers see first. Discovery is expected to shift away from in-app algorithms toward operating systems and interface layers.
FAST Will Evolve Into a More Premium, Strategic Channel: Executives anticipate FAST moving beyond its early role as free television and becoming a more premium, strategically integrated ad-supported model with a stronger role in audience acquisition and monetisation.
Sports Access Will Move Toward Bundling: Leaders expect bundled sports access to gain momentum as platforms look to reduce fragmentation, simplify navigation and ease subscription fatigue for fans seeking live events.
Gaming Will Remain Complementary Rather Than Central: Industry sentiment suggests that gaming will enhance engagement around franchises but remain an adjacent capability, rather than becoming a core pillar of streaming platforms in the near term.
Youth Viewing Habits Are Expected to Remain Fundamentally Changed: Executives predict that TikTok and YouTube will continue to function as primary television platforms for younger audiences, resetting expectations for pace, format and discovery.
Control of Discovery Will Continue to Move Up the Stack: Leaders foresee operating systems, interfaces and aggregation layers exerting greater influence over visibility, shifting competitive advantage away from individual services and toward those controlling entry points to viewing.
What These Signals Point To
Taken together, these trends point to a broader reset in how streaming services compete for attention. As discovery fragments and control disperses across the ecosystem, success in 2026 will depend less on catalogue size alone and more on how effectively platforms adapt to new interfaces, behaviours and business models.
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