The news: The global streaming economy is flourishing, driven largely by higher subscription prices and the growth of ad-supported tiers.

• Global streaming subscription revenues surpassed $150 billion for the first time in 2025, and will reach $202 billion by 2030—up 35%—per Ampere Analysis.
• The US was the largest contributor to that growth, accounting for 50% of global revenues last year. Within the US, Netflix is the single biggest contributor.

The bigger picture: In a maturing streaming market, platforms are becoming more focused on extracting more value from existing users than acquiring new ones, per Ampere. That strategy is especially evident in the recent wave of price hikes—including from platform leaders like Netflix—that have been implemented.

While the price increases boost margins, support content growth, and capitalize on streaming interest, they are also poised to increase churn and subscription fatigue. Gaining new customers across platforms without losing some in the fray is also a challenge.

• 42% of global streaming customers say they spend too much on subscriptions, per Simon-Kucher.
• 36% would cancel an existing streaming subscription if they added a new one.

Why it matters: Although marketers should not abandon linear altogether—cable and broadband still command 42.7% of US TV watch time, per Nielsen—streaming is where incremental, monetizable attention is shifting.

That change comes with more complexity than in the linear era.

• Fragmentation across platforms and tiers makes it harder to reach audiences at scale without duplication.
• At the same time, the rise of ad-supported tiers are opening premium inventory that was previously off-limits, giving advertisers access to high-value audiences and improved targeting capabilities.

However, as platforms lean harder on existing users for revenues, they’re walking a fine line on user experience: More ads and higher prices could make audience behavior less stable and predictable.

What marketers should do: Craft deliberate strategies that balance reach with efficiency across a mix of linear and streaming.

• Take advantage of emerging ad-supported tiers and improved data signals.
• Monitor platform-level shifts like pricing and churn to avoid overinvesting in audiences that may not stick around.