The 3 Laws Defining Streaming Today

After more than half a decade of ferocious competition, streaming growth is slowing down. Consumers are smart enough to understand each service and how to quit when the prices get too high. But as we enter the next phase of the streaming wars, three specific laws are beginning to emerge.

Today, data analytics firm Antenna dropped a major report revealing the most important trends in the industry. Here are the biggest takeaways — the laws that now rule the industry.

Law #1 – Major Events Matter

While some streaming services try to lure subscribers with free trials or discounts, the major things driving adoption throughout the year are big, unique events.

Antenna’s numbers show big subscription spikes for popular sports events like the NFL or WrestleMania. This likely explains Netflix’s sudden interest in skyscraper climbers and past-their-prime boxers/MMA fighters. Though these numbers only run through 2025, we know Paramount+ scored nearly 1 million new users on the weekend they began showing UFC events.

It’s not enough to have a great catalog or consistently strong shows and movies. Now, you need an out-of-the-ordinary stunt to grab new users.

Law #2 – Pay Taylor Sheridan Whatever He Wants

We’re also getting a better look at the importance of individual hit shows. Taylor Sheridan’s “Landman” has been a remarkable outlier for Paramount+. Antenna estimates the show drove 915,000 new subscriptions within its first 30 days, and the growth lasted far beyond the premiere as it added nearly the same number in each of its second and third months.

Antenna also reports that 4 out of 5 people who watched “Landman” stuck around to watch other Taylor Sheridan shows on the platform.

That’s a remarkable track record, but Paramount’s new owners bungled their relationship with Sheridan, and he’ll be making his way to NBCUniversal and Peacock as his Paramount deal expires. Whoops.

Looking back at the show-specific chart above, we see that hit shows are long-term growth drivers for all the major streamers.

And the best performers are entirely new properties. HBO Max scored with “Peacemaker” (a DC character) and Disney+ enjoyed a boost from “Agatha All Along” (a Marvel character) those bumps were a far cry from truly new shows like Apple TV‘s “Severance” or Hulu‘s “Only Murders in the Building.”

Not every service can have a Taylor Sheridan, but it sure looks worth trying to grow your own.

Law #3 – Bundles Chop Churn

While the “churn” rate of most standalone streaming services lies between 4-10% from month-to-month, bundle subscribers are remarkably loyal. There’s the cost savings, of course. But there’s also a reluctance to cancel an entire bundle just because you’re bored with one part of it.

That makes bundles a very smart decision, and it explains why so many services are now offering them. Antenna reports bundle subscriptions grew 50% year-over-year in 2025. More than one-quarter of total subscriptions is part of a bundle now. That’s 71 million out of 264 million streaming subscriptions in the U.S.

Nearly 6 in 10 subscribers to the Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max bundle were still subscribed to the plan a full year later. That’s a better retention than Netflix and twice as good as the subscriber retention for any individual parts of that bundle. Remarkable.

So as we look ahead to the rest of 2026, watch for streamers to try to outdo themselves with live or unique events beyond the sports they already have. Watch for streamers to double down on prolific creators. And expect that we may see even more bundles as streamers try to stop you from shoving them aside.

Although Antenna estimates 42% of users who cancel a streaming service eventually return, it’s smarter to try to keep them from leaving in the first place.

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