Streamers to Drive Content Spend in 2026

Global content investment will reach $255 billion in 2026, rising 2 percent year-on-year, driven by sustained investment from global streaming platforms, according to a new report from Ampere Analysis.

Global streaming platforms remain the primary driver of growth in content investment, with Ampere forecasting that ad-funded and subscription-based streamers will spend $101 billion on content in 2026, representing around two-fifths of total global content spend.

Ampere expects pay TV, commercial broadcasters and public broadcasters to see stagnant or declining content investment as a result of ongoing pressure on advertising revenues and rising production costs.

The gulf between global streamers and local broadcasters will continue to widen. International streaming services are scaling their investments, while local broadcasters are facing increasing challenges in sustaining content output amid rising costs, ongoing advertising pressure and shifting postpandemic viewer behavior.

In the U.S., commercial broadcasters are reducing spend as studio parent groups redirect budgets to their owned streaming platforms. Broadcasters outside of the U.S., however, are showing better resilience, with Ampere predicting they will maintain their investment levels through 2026.

Major global sporting events will provide a boost to content spend in 2026. While sports has historically been dominated by broadcast television, streaming platforms are continuing to expand their sports strategies.

“Spend in 2025 was in line with Ampere’s expectations, marked by streamers overtaking commercial broadcasters for overall contribution to the content spend landscape for the first time,” said Peter Ingram, research manager at Ampere Analysis. “In 2026, streamers are expected to further build on this, seeing 6 percent growth in expenditure. The accelerating shift in content investment toward streaming underscores a structural rebalancing of the global TV market, with scale and reach emerging as the central competitive differentiators for operators to remain buoyant.”