December closed the year as one of streaming’s most competitive periods. Holiday favourites returned, franchise finales landed, and live events drew audiences in real time, creating a crowded discovery environment. With so much content vying for attention, what viewers encountered first became the key differentiator. Across major devices, those moments of discovery revealed clear winners. The December U.S. Streamer of the Month report shows who converted that momentum into the strongest visibility gains.
Holiday programming did much of the heavy lifting. Disney+ leaned into festive comfort viewing, giving familiar favourites renewed life through coordinated seasonal pushes across devices. Elsewhere, other streamers adopted more playful approaches, using curated collections and lighter-touch execution to tempt browsers into one more watch. The result was a holiday landscape where nostalgia, novelty, and timing all mattered – and not everyone played it the same way.
Beyond seasonal fare, December delivered franchise moments with real bite. Netflix closed the year with the finale of Stranger Things, backed by enough promotional force to be hard to miss, even for those still catching up. Premium film releases also pushed into the spotlight, with titles like F1: The Movie securing high-impact placement across multiple streaming services. End-of-year subscriber offers returned as headline moments rather than quiet discounts, turning December into a month where big content and big deals shared the same stage. Which campaigns truly cut through is unpacked in the December U.S. Streamer of the Month report.
Live programming added urgency, with sports-led placements and real-time events – including Jake Paul vs. Anthony Joshua – reinforcing how appointment viewing still commands prime real estate during peak periods. Beyond the screen, the industry sent its own signals, from consolidation chatter involving Warner Bros. Discovery and Netflix, to major distribution shifts that will soon see the Academy Awards move further into the streaming era.
So who made the most of the holiday surge, which titles rose above the noise, and which streaming services finished 2025 with real momentum? Full rankings, device-level analysis, and major news are available in the December U.S. Streamer of the Month report.
Behind all of it, December once again showed that visibility on connected TV is shaped less by chance and more by where, how, and when titles appear across device home screens and digital storefronts.
)