Newsletter – January 15th, 2026

OTT.X NEWSLETTER JANUARY 15TH, 2025

Apple Didn’t Lose the AI Race. It Bought Time, Leverage, and Control

Apple is rebuilding Siri using Google’s Gemini LLMs, but without any visible Google branding. The move comes after years of Siri underperformance and increasing pressure from fast-moving AI competitors.

Apple Didn’t Lose the AI Race. It Bought Time, Leverage, and Control

Apple is rebuilding Siri using Google’s Gemini LLMs, but without any visible Google branding. The move comes after years of Siri underperformance and increasing pressure from fast-moving AI competitors.

The Take

This deal only looks like a concession if you're grading Apple on technical pride.

Apple’s move to license Gemini neutralizes a strategic risk without compromising user trust, brand equity, or cost control. It avoids the commoditized trap of model development and redirects energy toward high-leverage differentiation.

Google gains a foothold in the next interface shift. Apple retains the high ground.

In the streaming wars and beyond, most companies lose transitions by fighting the wrong battle. Apple didn’t.

It exited the model race and reinforced its position at the interface layer, where the real power lives.

Read the Full Analysis: The Streaming Wars

Versant Completes Acquisition of Free TV Networks

Versant has announced the completion of its acquisition of Free TV Networks, a leading provider of national premium free over-the-air digital broadcast networks and FAST channels.

FTN will operate within VERSANT as a dedicated business, expanding the company’s reach across over-the-air and FAST distribution, extending its footprint beyond traditional pay-TV, and scaling access to audiences engaging with free, ad-supported television.

FTN’s portfolio of multicast and FAST networks complements VERSANT’s existing portfolio of brands by introducing a distinct distribution model designed to serve growing segments of viewers who increasingly engage with free television options.

Jonathan Katz, FTN’s Founder, has joined VERSANT, reporting to David Pietrycha, Chief Revenue and Business Officer. Katz will continue to lead day-to-day operations of the business.

This follows VERSANT’s recent acquisition of INDY Cinema Group, operating under Fandango, further reinforcing the company’s strategy of building vertical businesses that extend distribution, deepen audience engagement, and develop new audience touchpoints on both existing and new platforms.

Read the Full Press Release: Versant

TikTok, BuzzFeed Jump Into the Microdrama Race

Over the holidays TikTok quietly introduced a new feature, TikTok Minis, that allows its users to sample vertically-shot short-form series within its app.

Cmpanies including BuzzFeed and Hollywood-alum-led MicroCo — are making moves in the space and more Hollywood players with established film and television backgrounds are expected to invest in microdramas as they chase the estimated $1.3 billion made last year in the U.S. alone.

Microdramas, which started attracting American audiences a few years ago, grabbed a lot of attention last year from Hollywood writers, performers and crew members.

This coincides with the rise of the creator economy which can have the biggest impact on the pivotal next phase of the microdrama industry as overseas players look to release a bona fide breakout hit, decrease subscriber acquisition costs and turn the genre’s actors into stars.

Read the Full Story: The Ankler

Bears vs. Packers on Prime Video sets streaming record

The NFL is always the biggest driver of ratings on TV, and its success is translating to streaming services as well. That was the key takeaway from data revealed by Prime Video on Tuesday, which showed that Saturday’s NFL Wild Card game between the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears was the most-streamed NFL game in history.

According to the data from Amazon, the broadcast of the Packers vs. Bears game on Saturday delivered 31.61 million viewers, as measured by Nielsen. That makes it the most-streamed NFL game in history, breaking the previous record set by the Detroit Lions vs. Minnesota Vikings game shown on Netflix on Christmas Day 2025.

The Packers vs. Bears game drew an audience 43% larger than the Wild Card game shown on Prime Video in 2025. According to Amazon’s first-party viewership data, the game drew the most concurrent viewers to the service ever, producing the highest single-day global viewership in Prime Video’s history.

“We could not have asked for a better game on Saturday, and very much appreciate our partners at the NFL who entrusted us to present such an incredible matchup,” Prime Video sports head Jay Marine said. “Surpassing 31 million viewers and setting an all-time streaming record illustrates our remarkable growth in a relatively short amount of time. We’re thankful for all the fans who tuned in on Saturday night and throughout this historic season of NFL games on Prime, and we will keep working hard and innovating on their behalf.”

Read the Full Story: The Streamable

Call for Thought Leadership Programming: OTT.X Breakfast @ NAB 2026

The annual OTT.X Breakfast at NAB returns to Las Vegas in April 2026, bringing together the most influential voices shaping the future of broadcasting, streaming, CTV, and the broader media & entertainment ecosystem. Start your NAB week with an exclusive, executive-level gathering designed to spark new ideas, strengthen partnerships, and examine how broadcast’s legacy is evolving alongside next-generation platforms, technologies, and workflows.

Featuring forward-looking programming, candid conversations, and a full, hearty breakfast, this event convenes executives, technologists, creators, and dealmakers focused on what’s next across content creation, live production, distribution, monetization, and measurement. Each year, the OTT.X Breakfast helps frame the conversations that matter most—making it a must-attend moment during NAB.

OTT.X is now accepting proposals for sponsor-supported thought leadership sessions at the 2026 OTT.X Breakfast @ NAB. Lead the conversation through curated programming segments that inform, inspire, and address the most pressing challenges and opportunities facing broadcasters, streamers, and media organizations navigating broadcast’s next evolution.

More Information & Registration

Agentic AI Comes into Play for CTV Ad Planning, Buying

AI agents are poised to have a greater role in the CTV ad planning, optimization and selling and process, with a few different developments announced this week amid the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Some introduced agentic AI tools and platforms to help simplify ad campaign planning, optimization and execution, such as Disney, PubMatic and the Viant DSP.

Others like NBCUniversal are also bringing AI agents into the mix for automated selling and buying, as seen by an announcement with FreeWheel, Newton Research and RPA for agent-to-agent buying.

And as AI agents are explored and tested by various companies and platforms, industry body IAB Tech Lab wants to bring some consistency and order to the ecosystem with the release of an Agentic Roadmap that’s meant to help scale agent-to-agent digital ad transactions across the industry.

An aspect the organization emphasized is that agentic AI buying won’t require reinventing the ecosystem, but systems can be scaled by extending existing industry standards with new protocols layered in for speed, security and interoperability.

Per IAB Tech Lab, it is one of the first concreate frameworks as to how agentic digital ad buying and selling can operate across the ecosystem, without hindering performance, trust or governance.

Read the Full Story: Stream TV Insider

Hub: Strong Consumer Interest in AI for Discovery and When Use Is Transparent

As Hollywood studios embrace more artificial intelligence in entertainment, consumers say they would like AI technology to be transparent when used in content, and they are excited about its use to improve content discovery, according to new data from Hub Entertainment Research.

A new study, based on a survey of 2,500 U.S. consumers age 16–74 conducted in November 2025, found that 72% of respondents feel at least somewhat familiar with generative AI and how it works. Another 73% say they have used generative AI tools online, up from just 57% a year ago.

Almost half (49%) think that generative AI will be good for society — twice the number who think it will be bad, and up from 44% last year.

The strongest excitement centers on AI-powered content discovery, such as smarter recommendations or conversational tools that help viewers decide what to watch next. These uses position AI as a guide that makes entertainment easier to navigate, rather than a tool that fundamentally alters creative output.

On the flipside, survey respondents said their biggest misgivings about AI revolve around being misled by AI-generated content or losing the ability to distinguish what is real from fake.

About 72% of respondents said that media companies should always disclose if AI was used in any way to make content they’re watching, and another 21% said studios should disclose if AI played a major role in content creation. Only 7% feel like no disclosure about AI is necessary.

In Case You Missed It

The Content Spend War Has a Winner. It Just Is Not the One You Grew Up With. The Streaming Wars
Ask Skip: Are We Becoming a FAST Company Without Saying It Out Loud?. The Streaming Wars
Lionsgate Exits Asia Streaming, Sells Lionsgate Play to Rohit Jain. The Streaming Wars
Netflix Pushes for All-Cash Deal in Bid to Lock Down Warner Bros. Discovery. The Streaming Wars
Basics of Streaming: The Complete Guide to Video and Audio Codecs. The Streaming Wars
Annual Wraps Are the Cheapest Retention Lever Most Media Companies Ignore. The Streaming Wars
7 Predictions for the Streaming Industry. The Streaming Wars
Basics of Streaming: How the Creator Economy Became a Distribution Engine. The Streaming Wars
The 4 AI Battlegrounds That’ll Matter Most in 2026. The Streaming Wars

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