Streaming distributors want a cut, and programmers now have better tools to determine whether they earned it.
Roku is merchandising more than 30 discounted subscription bundles and says 76% of Premium Subscription sign-ups are incremental to direct transactions. Amazon has bundled five services into a $29.99 quindle. JustWatch is turning search intent into its own ad, rental and subscription revenue. Across CTV home screens and FAST, distributors are increasingly being judged on what happens after they secure carriage.
This Wednesday: Build a Smarter CTV Monetization Strategy
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New Research from Hub: Becoming the “Default” TV Service Is Streaming’s Best Defense Against Churn
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Antenna: Fall is Best Season for acquiring streaming subscribers
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EPG, SCTE & Sports Data Roundtables
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Parks Associates: Some Streamers Phased Out Amid Consolidation During Q2
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OTT.X Members Save 25% on Future of Video
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The Shelf Has to Sell
Streaming distributors want a cut, and programmers now have better tools to determine whether they earned it.
Roku is merchandising more than 30 discounted subscription bundles and says 76% of Premium Subscription sign-ups are incremental to direct transactions. Amazon has bundled five services into a $29.99 quindle. JustWatch is turning search intent into its own ad, rental and subscription revenue. Across CTV home screens and FAST, distributors are increasingly being judged on what happens after they secure carriage.
The Take
Distribution economics are starting to look more like performance marketing.
Revenue share, wholesale discounts and promotional commitments get easier to defend when the distributor can prove it created incremental subscribers, viewing, transactions or ad yield. As home-screen placement becomes more measurable, programmers can start treating distribution support like any other performance channel: price it, audit it and negotiate against the results.
Owning the shelf gives distributors leverage. The next fight is over what that shelf can prove it sold.
Read the Full Analysis: The Streaming Wars
This Wednesday: Build a Smarter CTV Monetization Strategy
Building a Smarter CTV Monetization Strategy
September 30, 2026 | 10:00 AM PT / 1:00 PM ET
CTV advertising is growing, but turning that growth into sustainable revenue remains a challenge. Publishers have inventory to monetize. Advertisers want clearer buying paths and better proof of value. Viewers expect ads that feel relevant to what they are watching.
This Wednesday, OTT.X brings together leaders from AdGood, Cineverse, Elemental TV, and Ventura TV OS at The Trade Desk to discuss what it will take to make CTV advertising work better for everyone involved.
The conversation will cover ways to put underused inventory to work, improve transparency and measurement, and use emerging formats and technology to create more effective campaigns without losing sight of the viewer experience. Bring your questions for a discussion grounded in the challenges these leaders are working through today.
Speakers
- Nicholas Frazee, EVP, Revenue, Cineverse
- Kris Johns, Founder & CEO, AdGood
- John Marchesini, EVP, Product & Monetization, Cineverse
- Salman Raza, Product Lead, Monetization, Ventura TV OS at The Trade Desk
- Albert Yu, Chief Revenue Officer, Elemental TV
- Brian Ring, President, Ring Digital
New Research from Hub: Becoming the “Default” TV Service Is Streaming’s Best Defense Against Churn
In subscription businesses, not all subscribers are equally valuable. The more engaged users are, the more likely they are to stay and the less likely they are to churn. According to Hub Entertainment Research’s “Decoding the Default” 2026 study, the clearest signal of that engagement is whether a viewer considers a service their default: the service they turn on first when they want to watch something.
Across paid streaming, free ad-supported services, and live TV, becoming a viewer’s default means more than simply driving usage. Default services are far less likely to be canceled, often remain in households for years, and are the ones consumers are most likely to personalize and make their own.
Viewers’ default source is the last one to get cut.
When viewers are forced to imagine keeping only one service, being someone’s default source is worth two to six times as much loyalty as simply being used.
- Among all Netflix users, 28% say they’d keep it if they could only keep one service. Among users who call Netflix their default, that jumps to 62%.
- The gap is even wider for Disney+: 10% of all users would keep it alone, versus 61% of users for whom it’s the default — more than six times as loyal.
Viewers invest time to make their default “their own.”
One possible reason default sources are so sticky: most viewers say they’ve spent time making their default service “their own,” by creating profiles, building watchlists, and customizing the app settings. This is especially prevalent among younger viewers (a segment particularly hard to retain).
- Two-thirds (68%) of viewers overall agree they’ve made their default source “their own” through a profile, watchlist, or saved preferences.
- Among viewers under age 35, that rises to 79%, compared with 62% of viewers 35 and older.
These findings come from Hub Entertainment Research’s “Decoding the Default” 2026 study, based on a survey of 1,600 U.S. TV viewers ages 16-74 with broadband access, U.S. census balanced, conducted in August 2026. It is part of Hub’s ongoing series of syndicated Hub Reports.
Read the Full Story: Streaming Media
Antenna: Fall is Best Season for acquiring streaming subscribers
Fall is not simply a season associated with new television premieres: It also happens to be a lucrative time when network-owned streaming platforms see their largest subscriber acquisitions, according to new research released by Antenna this week.
In a new report called “The New, New Fall Season,” Antenna says September through December has become the most consequential window of the year for streaming services, driven by NFL programming, major series premieres, theatrical movies moving to streaming, service launches and Black Friday promotions.
Around 40 percent of annual gross subscriber additions across streaming now occur during those four months, according to Antenna’s proprietary data, which is based on consumer transactional records like bank and credit card statements along with other opt-in financial metrics.
Last year, seven of eight premium subscription video on-demand (SVOD) services recorded their heaviest acquisition period during the fall, with average daily sign-ups 33 percent higher than the rest of the year.
The pattern is especially clear in premium SVOD: Antenna said all 10 of premium SVOD’s top sign-up days in 2025 occurred between September and December. Specialty SVOD had nine of its top 10 sign-up days during the same period, while sports SVOD had seven.
SVOD services include premium platforms like Netflix, Amazon’s Prime Video and Disney Plus along with network-owned services like Comcast’s Peacock, Disney’s Hulu, Paramount Plus and Warner Bros Discovery’s HBO Max.
In their early years, most those premium services offered commercial-free streaming of their content libraries. As time goes on, each company has steadily raised the price of its platform while pushing frugal customers onto lower-cost, ad-inclusive plans that allow them to generate recurring revenue in two ways.
Read the Full Story: TheDesk.net
EPG, SCTE & Sports Data Roundtables
Live and Virtual
October 7th, 2026 | 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Roku Offices | Santa Monica, CA
OTT.X will host executive roundtables on October 7 in Los Angeles focused on the nearly completed DSCA EPG Specification and ongoing industry work to improve how live and sports content is described, discovered, and distributed across the streaming ecosystem.
DSCA EPG Specification
The EPG Roundtable will continue the industry work around the DSCA EPG Specification, with discussion focused on implementation, metadata, SCTE signaling, and the remaining gaps that need to be addressed as the specification moves toward completion.
Sports Data Taxonomy
The Sports Data Working Group will meet in person to continue its work around sports taxonomy and metadata, while inviting additional stakeholders to join the effort and contribute their perspectives.
The discussion will look at how leagues, teams, events, seasons, competitions, live programming, replays, highlights, and schedule changes are identified across platforms, and how sports data can better connect with EPG metadata, discovery, and signaling.
These are interactive working sessions designed for the companies and teams actively working in these areas to share their perspectives and help shape the work moving forward.
Who Should Participate
- These roundtables are intended for executives and senior practitioners working across:
- EPG, metadata, discovery, and content systems
- Sports data, taxonomy, and metadata
- Live TV, FAST, and CTV platform operations
- SCTE signaling and live streaming workflows
- OEM TV platforms and operating systems
- FAST services, channel operators, and content providers
- Content distribution and technical operations
Participation is free for OTT.X members, existing working group participants, and industry professionals working directly in these areas. In-person space is limited, with a virtual participation option also available.
Parks Associates: Some Streamers Phased Out Amid Consolidation During Q2
The streaming television industry got a little smaller this year as a handful of major companies and content rights holders either shut down or consolidated their operations, according to new data released by Parks Associates on Wednesday.
During the second quarter (Q2) of the year, ten streaming services tracked by Parks Associates effectively shut down, including Paramount’s BET Plus, which was folded into the company’s flagship service Paramount Plus.
Other services, like FIFA Plus, moved to DAZN while a service called RidePass transitioned from a premium product into a free, ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel, Parks noted.
FanDuel Sports Network was one of the few services to shut down entirely: Amid the demise of the company’s cable networks, its complementary streaming platform that allowed sports fans to watch live events with their cable or satellite credentials also closed.
Despite this, there are still plenty of streaming options on the market: Parks Associates’ proprietary Streaming Video Tracker showed a slight bump in streaming launches during the quarter, with nearly 340 individual services in the United States tracked by the markets intelligence firm.
The trend repeated in international markets, too, with Parks Associates noting Canadian service Crave absorbing the content libraries of CTV Throwback and Movies and a Spanish soccer platform being integrated into FC Barcelona’s platform.
“Streaming services continue to experiment with the best ways to reach and monetize audiences,” Michael Goodman, the Director of Entertainment Research at Parks Associates, said in a statement. “The movement of content from standalone apps to larger platforms and FAST channels shows how quickly distribution strategies are changing.”
Read the Full Story: TheDesk.net
OTT.X Members Save 25% on Future of Video
November 17–18, 2026 | Marina del Rey, California
Where is the business of streaming headed next? Parks Associates will bring industry leaders together for Future of Video: Business of Streaming, a two-day event focused on the decisions shaping the video marketplace.
The program offers an opportunity to step back from day-to-day challenges and examine the larger shifts affecting the industry: how viewing habits are changing, where streaming business models are gaining traction, and what advertisers, content providers, and distributors need from one another to grow. Attendees can expect conversations spanning monetization, technology, and the evolving relationships between platforms and audiences.
It is also a chance to connect in person with peers from across the streaming ecosystem and bring new ideas and relationships back to your team.
OTT.X members receive 25% off registration. Use code STREAMING2026 when registering.
More Information & Registration: Parks Associates Future of Video
In Case You Missed It
- Best Buy Wants to Sell You the TV, Then Sell Ads on It. The Streaming Wars
- The Default App Gets Cut Last. Here’s How Streaming Services Earn That Spot. The Streaming Wars
- DAZN Is Building the NBA’s Local Streaming Hub Before the NBA Picks an Operator. The Streaming Wars
- Does Sports Exclusivity Still Deserve a Premium? The Streaming Wars
- Basics of Streaming: How Workflow Orchestration Turns Schedules Into Live and FAST Channels. The Streaming Wars
- Streaming Services Are Outsourcing the Expensive Parts of Being DTC. The Streaming Wars
- Trump TV Is State Media Built for YouTube. The Streaming Wars
- Google’s Location Data Helped Target Ads. Ireland Sent a €403 Million Bill. The Streaming Wars
- Bonta’s Paramount Settlement Locks In Movies and Production Spending While Paramount Keeps Its $6 Billion Cut Target. The Streaming Wars
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