Future of TV Briefing: In TV ad market’s swing to streaming, cheap inventory is in demand

Time to check in on the ad market’s swing from traditional TV to streaming. Based on TV and streaming companies’ latest quarterly earnings report, the gap continues to close, though the chasm is still significant and the outlook isn’t entirely rosy (unless you’re an ad buyer).

Take Disney for example. 

Not only did the parent company of Disney+ and Hulu see its streaming ad revenue increase by 3% in its most recent quarter, but that streaming ad revenue represented more than half of the $1.6 billion in total ad revenue from Disney’s overall entertainment segment. In other words, Disney’s entertainment advertising business has become primarily streaming. That’s a big deal.

But then there’s Disney’s sports business. This segment includes ESPN and is reported as a separate segment that raked in $1.2 billion in advertising revenue. Disney doesn’t break out streaming’s share of sports advertising revenue, but TV owners primarily run the same ads on streaming as on traditional TV when it comes to their sports inventory. So it seems safe to say that streaming represents less than half — but at least 30% — of Disney’s $2.8 billion in total ad revenue for the quarter.

Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery provided clearer, if somewhat less encouraging, looks at the streaming-vs.-linear advertising divide.

Streaming grew its share of Paramount’s total advertising revenue in the second quarter of 2026, increasing from 23% share in Q2 2025 to 27% in the most recent period. But the company’s linear TV ad revenue decline (-14% year over year) outpaced its streaming ad revenue growth (+8% year over year).

The story was similar at WBD. Streaming’s share of ad revenue went from 13% a year ago to 18% in Q2 2026. But streaming ad revenue only grew by 9% year over year compared to linear TV ad revenue’s 27% year-over-year cliff dive (surrendering the NBA playoffs will do that).

A ‘softer than expected’ outlook

But here’s where things get even less encouraging. 

Streaming ad growth is starting to run into some obstacles. Disney called this out explicitly in a letter to shareholders released on August 5. Describing the current quarter which is the company’s fiscal fourth quarter, Disney said that it’s looking at “a softer than expected advertising environment, particularly in domestic SVOD.” 

To be clear, this July-September period is usually pretty soft. It’s summer. People are traveling and likely watching less TV. There are fewer things to watch. Disney didn’t have the World Cup. NFL and college football don’t start until late August-early September. Et cetera.

But Disney didn’t say it’s seeing a soft advertising environment. It said it’s seeing a “softer than expected” advertising environment. It’s one thing to have low expectations; it’s another for reality to fall short of those lowered expectations.

The supply-demand dynamic

In other words, advertiser demand for streaming inventory leaves a lot to be desired at the moment. Which is less than ideal considering the current supply-demand dynamics of the streaming ad market, in which streaming ad revenue growth seems dependent on inventory growth.

Disney, for example, attributed its increased streaming ad revenue to an 8% increase in impressions despite a 4% decrease in ad prices. Roku painted an even starker picture. In its latest quarterly earnings report, the CTV platform noted that video ad impressions increased by 40% whereas the average price per ad impression dropped by 12%.

“Overall, the current tone I would have is to characterize the market as healthy in sports, which obviously plays to our strength heading into the fall, but at the same time, competitive in streaming, especially given the growth of supply in the marketplace. That supply, of course, is creating some pricing pressure for us and for others, which you saw in our SVOD ad sales growth rate this quarter,” said Disney CFO Hugh Johnston during the company’s latest earnings calls.

And this is all happening as more streaming ad inventory is opening up. Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch said during the company’s earnings call that the CTV ad market has “a lot of new inventory available.” Having said that, Fox-owned Tubi’s ad revenue increased by 35% in the latest quarter, and Murdoch made a point to address the supply-demand dynamic.

“While I think other platforms in the market have had to reduce price to compete or compete for volume in the market, Tubi has not had to drop its rates of change or of our advertising rate in order to compete,” he said during the company’s earnings call.

Of course, as a free streaming service, Tubi’s ad rates would likely already be lower than the ad-supported tiers of subscription-based services like Disney+, HBO Max, Netflix and Paramount+. Which is a good spot to be in when the market seems to be weighted toward cheap supply.

Little wonder then why Disney and Netflix executives said during their respective earnings calls that the companies are considering opening up free, ad-supported tiers.

What we’ve heard

“In the past, brands would target creators based on their reach, so those creators can share content that gets a reach. But now brands are looking to target creators who are being cited by LLMs.”

— Noise Media Group’s Joseph Levi

Numbers to know

10 million: New minimum 90-day view threshold that YouTube Shorts creators will need to meet to participate in the platform’s revenue-sharing program.

$2.15 billion: How much Nielsen will pay to acquire DoubleVerify.

110 million: Number of monthly active users for Fox’s Tubi.

81.6 million: Number of paid subscribers for Paramount’s Paramount+.

$1.22 billion: Roku’s platform revenue, which includes ad revenue, in Q2 2026.

$3 billion: Warner Bros. Discovery’s total streaming revenue in Q2 2026.

$1.64 billion: Versant’s total revenue in Q2 2026.

$4.21 billion: Fox’s total revenue in its most recent quarter.

What we’ve covered

Zoom relies on creators to boost AI search results:

• The tech company is trying to convince people that it’s an end-to-end, AI-first work platform rather than just a meetings platform, and it’s building an AI visibility strategy with creators to accomplish that.
• Kimberly Storin, CMO at Zoom, acknowledges that there’s no explicit link between creators and AI visibility that marketers can point to — at least not yet.

Read more about brands’ AI visibility strategies here.

Meet the interior design creator who made a reluctant pivot that paid off:

• Two years into her journey, she decided to start working with Emma Clarke, director of talent at Currents Management, who not only took the contract and opportunity reins from Sousa, but gently steered her toward a more sustainable creator track.
• Sousa told Digiday that her yearly revenue is now nearly three times the amount of what she made the first year working with Currents Management, though she did not provide details.

Read more about creator content pivots here.

Creator agencies are becoming entertainment studios — brands are footing the bill:

• Creator agencies are turning into entertainment studios, but unlike traditional studios, marketers are the ones footing the bill.
• More of them want to back up the “make content, not ads” mantra with actual budget, and that’s driving demand for specialist talent so high that creator agencies are either rebuilding themselves as entertainment companies or launching as one from day one.

Read more about creator agencies’ studio ambitions here.

Why brands like Gap Inc. and Staples are inviting their employees to be creators:

• Gap Inc. announced it was opening up its creator program to its employees across Old Navy, Gap, Athleta, and Banana Republic, giving them a chance to earn commission by sharing personalized affiliate links on social media.
• It’s less of an officially sanctioned employee creator program like Starbucks’ Green Apron Creators and more just an extension of Gaps’ existing program.

Read more about employee creator programs here.

What we’re reading

Streaming’s upfront haul:

Streaming ad commitments increased by 30% year over year to $17.2 billion in this year’s upfront to fall just shy of the $17.33 billion earmarked for broadcast and cable TV, according to Variety.

VideoAmp’s AI-driven layoffs:

The measurement company cut roughly 20% of its staff, including its CTO, as it pivots to becoming an AI-powered platform, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Paramount’s NFL rights talks:

With its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery on hold, CBS’s parent company has also paused negotiations with the NFL over a new rights deal, according to Bloomberg.

Fox’s NFL rights talks:

While the NFL is looking to negotiate its next rights deals early, Fox is perfectly fine waiting until closer to the 2030 deadline, according to CNBC.