Last month, we gave you a taste of the Olympic kick-off, but August is when the games truly lit up our screens. The athletes weren’t the only ones breaking records as Warner Bros. Discovery reached an impressive 215 million viewers across Europe, who collectively streamed over 7 billion minutes of the event. With their streaming app, Max, only launching in Europe at the start of 2024, what better news could they have asked for?

It was Peacock that emerged as a frontrunner in the U.S., climbing towards the top of the title performance leaderboard with its powerful promotion of The Olympic Games: Paris 2024. With bold campaigns that boasted vibrant visuals and star power with icons like Simone Biles front and center, these streaming giants had us itching to grab our remotes and dive into the live-action, promising a viewing experience that felt as thrilling as the events themselves. But did their efforts translate into a winning strategy? Did their digital merchandising secure them gold on the podium, or did they stumble at the finish line amidst shiny competitor new releases? We break it all down in our latest Merchandiser of the Month August here, where we reveal who truly stuck the landing and what made them shine in this fiercely competitive race of content discovery.

The Olympics weren’t the only ticket to Paris from the comfort of our couches this month. Enter the much-anticipated release of Emily in Paris Season 4, or at least the first half of it. Globally, Netflix stole the spotlight on the major digital storefronts, rolling out a très chic campaign that was impossible to ignore. With striking visuals that exuded Parisian flair and Emily herself front and center to welcome us, Netflix lured viewers into the world of romance and fashion, making it nearly impossible to resist pressing play. Who needs a passport when you’ve got Emily leading the way to the City of Light?

And if Paris isn’t your thing, don’t worry, you had plenty of other worlds to explore. Prime Video offered its escape route, whisking viewers away to Middle-earth with the Season 2 premiere of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Not grabbing you? You could also venture off to a planet ruled by apes, with Disney+ launching Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. It was Prime Video in particular that had us impressed, making a hefty power move that offered Samsung TV Plus users an exclusive streaming treat, allowing them to view Season 1 for free without a subscription. So, which of these two heavyweights emerged as the champion for digital prominence, making them most likely to turn heads and lure in a new net of subscribers with the promise of journeying to new lands? Find out in our Merchandiser of the Month August.