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Live sports programming has become the biggest variable, although growth is difficult to achieve no matter what. Peacock grew its time spent the most last year, thanks overwhelmingly to sports. Amazon Prime Video will top the active user growth list this year for the same reason. Disney+ is also growing well, but mainly because Disney is allowing it to steal engagement from Hulu.

Shoppers can use the feature to receive product recommendations and review summaries, as well as get generalized assistance on topics ranging from the weather to sports schedules. Eventually, Sparky will be enhanced with agentic AI capabilities that can automatically reorder household essentials as well as book services.

Courting upscale bargain hunters: Other retailers that are benefiting as higher-end consumers trade down include Dollar General and Academy Sports, The Wall Street Journal reported. Off-price chains like TJX also stand to gain as well-to-do shoppers economize.

Why it matters: Eurovision is one of the world鈥檚 most-watched events鈥攐utdrawing even marquee sports in key markets. That makes it a rare opportunity for brands to meet consumers where they are: tuned in, emotionally engaged, and ready to talk. These campaigns show that brands don鈥檛 need a Super Bowl budget to show up in a big way鈥攖hey need cultural fluency and timing.

After a slew of technical failures during November's Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul boxing match live stream, advertisers are more aware than ever of what can go wrong during a popular event. And with Netflix's "NFL Christmas Gameday" just around the corner, which will feature Beyonc茅 performing during the Ravens vs. Texans halftime show, brands can strategize to make the most of a potential broadcast outage.

The beauty retailer's strategic alignment with women's sports comes as the WNBA experiences unprecedented growth in viewership and commercial appeal. This dual achievement is particularly notable as competitors Ulta and Target lost share with the crucial Gen Z demographic during the same period. 5. Ben & Jerry's.

The company described the updates as a 鈥渇lexible canvas鈥� that accommodates its live sports and gaming content, both of which Netflix has spent considerable resources on to develop and deploy.

People continue to spend more time streaming, ad-supported tiers are gaining adoption, and sports programming keeps migrating to streaming services. These factors contributed to our CTV forecast having among the strongest growth rates of any channel.

厂辫辞谤迟蝉鈥� growing popularity and ad effectiveness is visible in the data. EDO found that ads on women鈥檚 sports drove 40% more engagement than primetime inventory. Aiming to capitalize on growing Hispanic sports viewership, Fox and NBCUniversal inked a deal to air the recent Super Bowl on both Telemundo and Fox Deportes.

Another original video podcast launching in June, 鈥淭he Netflix Sports Club,鈥� will be available on Netflix press site Tudum and other video platforms. However, Sarandos said in the company鈥檚 Q1 earnings call that 鈥淎s the popularity of video podcasts grow, I suspect you鈥檒l see some of them find their way to Netflix,鈥� hinting that podcasts could become available in the Netflix app.

As 2026 brings elections, global sports, and more AI-driven media buying, the platforms that can prove outcomes, not impressions, will define the next chapter.

This collaboration combined sports and wellness, offering listeners a unique experience. Walmart x Celebrity Moms: Walmart launched the 鈥淢oms Answer Moms鈥� TikTok series, where consumers could ask parenting questions to celebrity mothers like Paris Hilton and Whitney Cummings. The campaign鈥檚 top video amassed over 120 million views and sparked a 5,000-comment thread of mothers sharing advice.

Other brands like Sports Illustrated have received backlash in the past for having AI-generated articles published under fake author names, with the fallout leading to the company鈥檚 CEO being fired. Our take: The fake KFC ad underscores a real concern: if small creators can face massive backlash for unethical AI use, brands need to be careful with hasty adoption.

Affordable prices compared with services like Hulu and Max and Peacock鈥檚 investment in sports, including an NBA package beginning later this year, will help it weather market changes and ad budget cuts. And despite a fragile economy, we anticipate that Peacock鈥檚 ad revenues will grow 6.2% YoY in 2025 and 23.7% YoY in 2026.

Domestic publishers like Bell Media, Rogers Sports and Media, CBC/Radio-Canada, and Quebecor Media are improving their digital portfolios. These companies dominate traditional ad spending, which amounted to 24.2% of total ad spending in 2024. Their digital arms didn鈥檛 compete well with the tech giants initially.

They rarely (4%) play sports games. Baby boomers (69%) and Gen X (56%) spend most of their gaming time on casual or mobile games. Millennials also prefer that format but play sports games more than any other generation.

With billions committed to live sports rights, media companies may further deprioritize scripted programming in favor of lower-cost unscripted content, putting creative innovation at risk. Licensing deals could stall.

IAB attributes this upswing to streaming platforms鈥� expanded sports offerings, renewed engagement with live events, and improved access to self-serve and programmatic advertising capabilities. Our own forecast indicates that digital video ad spend grew 24.8% in 2024 and will grow an additional 17.8% in 2025鈥攁nd that video ad spend will double between 2023 and 2028.

More bad news for Venu Sports: The proposed sports streaming service will go to court with Fubo in October, kicking a potential launch further down the road.

Because consumers now access content via dozens of platforms and devices, even tentpole events like award shows and live sports are more challenging to measure. As measurement catches up to consumer viewing habits, brands will have better information regarding where to reach incremental audiences and how to optimize frequency to drive awareness and consideration while mitigating waste.

鈥淎 lot of it is going to come down to whether they can license more sports content that's going to drive wholesale increases in subscribers,鈥� Verna said. 鈥淪ome of it may come down to what happens to the competition, especially considering how fragile some of its competitors are.鈥�. As consumers look to cut costs, trimming subscriptions won鈥檛 be their first move, said 蘑菇AV analyst Ross Benes.

The campaign taps into the 鈥渉uman instinct we can feel when playing 蝉辫辞谤迟鈥� and urges consumers to 鈥渦nleash their wild energy鈥� through sports, per a release. 鈥淲e believe that it鈥檚 not just hard work that leads to excellence,鈥� said Richard Teyssier, global vice president of brand and marketing at Puma. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a human behind the athlete and they need to enjoy what they do to do it well.鈥�.