The StreamTV 2026 conference in Lisbon confirmed the irreversible decline of traditional broadcasting into the background. According to Filip Zelinka from the Marketup agency, the future of video content is defined by the battle between platforms for viewers’ attention through an effective combination of subscription (SVOD) and advertising models (AVOD). Which key trends will rewrite the rules of the media market, and where and how will we effectively reach consumers in the coming years?
The event primarily reflected global and American trends, which cannot always be applied 1:1 to our specific Czech market, but it served as an excellent crystal ball. It showed the direction in which the global media business is inexorably hurtling and which, sooner or later, will fully affect us too.
From the many talks and informal discussions with the people who run this market, one thing emerged clearly: for brands and advertisers, the old metrics based purely on gross reach are no longer working. Here are the 8 pillars that interested me most from the perspective of brand building and media planning:
1. The tipping point: Subscription fatigue
The golden age, when all you had to do was launch a new streaming service and wait for hordes of subscribers, is over. The average household in the US or the UK now pays for five to six services, spending the equivalent of over 20,000 crowns a year on them. Viewers are exhausted not only financially but also mentally – they spend up to 30 minutes a day searching for content. As a result, almost half of the audience today would rather opt for a cheaper ad-supported version than pay for another full subscription.
2. The end of the ‘couch potato’ viewer and the rise of the affinity economy
Media strategist Evan Shapiro aptly described the concept of the “Whole Consumer” in Lisbon. There is no longer a purely TV or mobile viewer. People today watch TV with a phone in their hand. Only those who focus on the so-called loyalty economy will survive. This means that it is no longer enough for a viewer simply to tune in (reach). The aim is for them to “love” you, feel loyalty towards you and be part of your community. It is precisely this deep relationship (affinity) that is more valuable today than millions of random views.
3. Two approaches to the future: Fox vs. Paramount
The example of two media giants clearly illustrates where viewers’ attention – and consequently advertising potential – is shifting:
The path to the future (Fox): Under Lachlan Murdoch’s leadership, Fox sold its legacy studios to Disney, cleared its debts and poured the resulting billion dollars into a modern “loyalty economy”. It invested in platforms and agencies connecting creators with fans (Tubi, Whalar, Dhar Mann Studios). The legacy company has become a modern player, and its value has risen by 38% to a massive $33 billion.
The Industry Trap (Paramount): David Ellison, on the other hand, is banking on the outdated Hollywood model of the 1980s. Instead of innovation, the company is attempting to ‘buy its way out’ of the crisis through a gigantic merger with Warner Bros. Discovery for $111 billion, thereby saddling itself with a massive debt. It ignores the creative community, stifles the innovative Pluto TV in favour of old-school management, and its sole attempt at something new (purchasing content on Substack) is nonsensically run by people from the old TV format 60 Minutes.
From a client’s perspective, this is a clear signal that effective action lies not in cumbersome, debt-ridden behemoths, but in agile platforms connecting modern creators with the television screen.
4. From the “Creator Economy” to the “Creation Economy”
We often hear about the “creator economy” as something that belongs solely to YouTube. In Lisbon, however, the talk was of a unified economy of creation. The point is that traditional television producers are creators too; they’ve just forgotten this a bit within their corporations. If a television channel casts a well-known streamer in a show today, it isn’t just buying their face, but directly acquiring their loyal audience.
This is also linked to shared ownership of intellectual property (IP). Instead of television simply paying creators for their work, it is now more advantageous to jointly own the rights to the format. Both parties then have an incentive to see the brand grow everywhere – from TikTok to prime-time television.
5. YouTube is now the go-to TV platform
The myth that YouTube is just for children has been definitively debunked. It is now a fully-fledged television platform, and its fastest-growing demographic is people over 55. The production architecture has also changed. These days, you no longer produce just a single ‘programme’. From a single high-quality interview, you must create an entire network: a 40-minute video, a four-hour podcast and dozens of short clips for social media. Content must be where the viewer is.
6. The power of fandom over algorithms
Representatives from Crunchyroll have confirmed that 60% of people do not discover their content via the app’s recommendation algorithm, but elsewhere entirely – on Reddit, Discord or TikTok. The key to success is no longer just a ‘smart algorithm’ on the homepage, but fandom. It is the fans who generate genuine interest in discussions outside your platform. Your best weapon, therefore, is the community that talks about you, even when you aren’t broadcasting anything.
7. The hidden crisis of children’s content: Viewership vs. money
Children’s content faces a paradox. Although it accounts for 15% of total viewership on platforms, advertising revenue from it makes up just 2%. The reason lies in extremely strict rules on the protection of minors’ privacy (e.g. COPPA), which prevent targeted advertising. This leads to creators and broadcasters investing less and less in high-quality children’s content, causing children to flock en masse to gaming platforms such as Roblox.
8. Content must travel: AI as a revolution in production and localisation
Although there was much discussion in Lisbon about how the advertising market is technologically unable to measure the fragmented attention of viewers, the real excitement was generated by artificial intelligence elsewhere – directly in content creation and adaptation. Producing premium content and campaigns is extremely expensive today. For such investments to pay off for both clients and creators, a clear rule was voiced at the conference: “Content must travel, otherwise it won’t survive economically.”
And this is precisely where AI acts as an incredible accelerator. Its power is fully demonstrated, for example, in lightning-fast localisation. This is beautifully illustrated by the phenomenon of MrBeast – a YouTuber who has amassed an impressive 150 million followers in his native language. But when he incorporated cutting-edge AI dubbing and translated his videos into 77 other languages, barriers came crashing down and he instantly reached a further 350 million fans worldwide. For those of us in the industry, this represents a huge opportunity. Once we’ve created a strong concept or campaign, thanks to modern AI tools, we’re no longer confined to a single market. We can scale our content instantly, naturally and, above all, at a fraction of the cost, far beyond the borders of our market.
Source: mediaguru.cz