Global content investment will reach $255bn in 2026, rising a modest 2% year-on-year, according to new forecasts from Ampere Analysis.
The research found that global streaming platforms will remain the primary driver of growth in content investment. Ampere Analysis has forecasted that ad-funded and subscription-based streamers will spend $101bn on content in 2026, representing around two-fifths of total global content spending.
Traditional broadcast models face a more constrained outlook. Ampere expects pay TV, commercial broadcasters, and public broadcasters to see stagnant or declining content investment, reflecting ongoing pressure on advertising revenues and rising production costs.
As a result, the divergence between global streamers and local broadcasters will reportedly continue to widen. While international streaming services scale investment, local broadcasters face increasing challenges sustaining content output amid rising costs, ongoing advertising pressure, and shifting post-pandemic viewer behaviour.
In the US, commercial broadcasters are reducing spend as studio parent groups redirect budgets to their owned streaming platforms. In contrast, broadcasters outside the US show slightly better resilience, maintaining their investment levels through 2026.
Major global sporting events, including the football World Cup and Winter Olympics, will provide a boost to content spending in 2026. Historically dominated by broadcast television, streaming platforms continue to expand their sports strategies, with platforms such as Amazon Prime Video securing major National Basketball Association (NBA) rights through 2026.
Peter Ingram, Research Manager at Ampere Analysis, said: “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. In 2026, we expect streamers to further build on this, seeing 6% 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.”
Guy Bisson, Executive Director and Co-Founder at Ampere Analysis, recently joined IBC365 and four top media analysts to reveal his data-backed assessments of 2025, as well as his predictions for 2026 and beyond. Discover more here.
.jpg)
Expanded Future Tech to showcase the very best in innovation, technology and talent
After a successful debut in 2025, Future Tech returns to Hall 14 of the RAI this year, with more features, more innovation and more of the technologies shaping the next era of media and entertainment.
.jpg)
UK TV industry advocates out-of-hours guidelines
The UK television industry has backed new guidelines to minimise out-of-hours contact to help improve work-life balance in the sector.
.jpg)
EU approves Paramount's WBD acquisition with conditions
The European Commission has approved Paramount Skydance’s proposed $110bn acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.
Isabel Davis to become Director of BFI Filmmaking Funds
The British Film Institute (BFI) has named Isabel Davis as Director of its BFI National Lottery Filmmaking Funds.
Netflix uses GenAI on 300 titles in 2026
Netflix has revealed that nearly 300 titles on its platform have used generative AI, from early concept stages and pre-visualisation through to post-production and release.
