From evolving market dynamics to new service launches to major business transactions, 2025 was, if nothing else, an eventful year for the media industry. As we close out the year, Antenna is highlighting 7 charts that illustrate some of the biggest stories and themes in streaming video in 2025.
Love Island USA really was massive. It was a clear cultural hit, but it also delivered sign-ups to Peacock. Antenna estimates Love Island USA was viewed by 1.6M Sign-ups in its first 30 days, quickly outperforming other Reality Shows. Compared to The Traitors, another Peacock title, Love Island USA was even stronger — generating over 10x more Sign-ups in the first 30 days and finishing 5x above The Traitors’ 90-day total (0.3M).
HBO Max has plenty of potential in joining forces with another streamer. There is no shortage of headlines about the sale of Warner Bros. Discovery, and the success of HBO Max’s bundle with Disney suggests that it can make a great partner for other streamers. Antenna observed that among those who subscribed to the HBO Max-Disney+ bundle between July and November 2024, 59% remained subscribed 12 months later. That’s +7pts higher than Netflix and +26pts higher than HBO Max stand-alone.
Streamers are battling Netflix for viewership. With its significant subscriber base and first-mover advantage, the assumption has been that consumers view Netflix more as a utility than other services. When looking at what different subscriber cohorts watch off-service, Antenna has been able to quantify this widely-held assumption. Using Subscriber Views data, Antenna observes that even when a service has a deep catalog in a given genre, Netflix can still entice viewers to watch similar programming on its platform.
Among Disney+ subscribers who watched children's titles on the service, 9 in 10 of the top titles by reach watched off-service between February and July 2025 were on Netflix, and 4 in 10 were children’s and family titles. Antenna estimates that some 23% of Disney+ children’s title viewers watched Despicable Me 4 on Netflix in March, more than 4x the average Netflix viewer.
Third-party distribution can be a growth engine for streamers. “Channels” environments, in particular, are proving to be popular with consumers. Antenna estimated that 1 in 3 new streaming subscriptions in Q1'25 came through these stores—a sharp increase from just two years prior—with the vast majority via Amazon Channels.
This year’s launch of FOX One is a recent example; from its launch on August 21 through the end of October, Antenna estimates nearly 2 in 3 of Cumulative Daily Sign-ups to FOX One came via Amazon Channels.
Disney continues to win with bundling. One of the biggest stories of the year was ESPN’s direct-to-consumer (DTC) service launch, in large part because it features marquee live sports and related programming that had largely been exclusive to linear broadcast audiences. For its distribution strategy, Disney has leaned into bundling. Looking at ESPN since its launch through the end of October 2025, some 65% or nearly 2 in 3 Cumulative Sign-ups came via a Disney bundle.
Streaming customers are broadening their horizons. While most subscriptions are still with Premium SVOD services, Antenna estimates that about 20% are for Specialty SVOD, Sports SVOD, and vMVPDs. While the growth of Specialty SVOD remains in the double digits, it is beginning to slow. Still, these targeted services, which appeal to passionate communities—such as genre fans, fandoms, and language-specific offerings—remain vital to the industry’s overall health.
Even with the slowdown in growth, Antenna observes that consumers continue to seek out these services, and the share of total SVOD users who have engaged with Specialty services is gradually rising each quarter. Antenna estimates that, as of Q2'25, approximately one-third of all U.S. subscribers have used a Specialty SVOD, reflecting a nearly 70% increase compared to two years earlier.
For Taylor Sheridan, 2025 was a pretty good year. In October, news broke that prolific showrunner Taylor Sheridan had signed a lucrative deal with NBCUniversal. As Puck’s Matt Belloni reported, the “Sheridan-verse” has been an acquisition driver for Paramount+, but it also helps to retain subscribers. Viewers of Taylor Sheridan titles have outperformed on loyalty following finales, with retention rates above the Paramount+ benchmark and other title cohorts. 93% of Tulsa King viewers in Nov-24 (S2 finale month) remained subscribed at the end of Dec-24 – notably Paramount+ scheduled the release of Tulsa King to be followed by other Sheridan titles.
For more detailed information on Antenna’s methodology and definitions of core metrics, please visit http://www.antenna.live/methodology.
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