Streaming to dominate global television industry by 2028, analysis finds

LONDON – Global streaming services are projected to spend more on content than the entire traditional broadcast sector combined by 2028, marking a pivotal shift in the entertainment industry.

Guy Bisson, executive director of Ampere Analysis, presented the forecast at the Göteborg Film Festival, describing a global television landscape in a state of "reset" following pandemic-related disruptions, labor strikes, and the rise of artificial intelligence.

Streaming platforms currently drive nearly all market growth, with spending increasing 2.5% over the last 28 months.

Industry data shows that streamers are ramped up spending on licensed content faster than on original productions. In a shift toward ad-supported tiers, the number of new unscripted commissions, such as reality television, has reached parity with scripted programming for the first time.

Live sports have also emerged as a dominant spending category, now accounting for 13% of total streaming content budgets. This sector has grown from nearly zero just a few years ago, effectively reducing the capital available for films and other traditional scripted shows.

The era of "peak TV" has officially drawn to a close. Data from Ampere Analysis signals a definitive end to streaming’s Golden Age—a period defined by prestige scripted dramas, ad-free environments, and the ubiquity of the binge-watching model. The industry has entered a maturation phase, pivoting from a "growth at all costs" mantra toward a disciplined focus on profitability and subscriber retention.

This structural shift effectively means that platforms like Netflix are increasingly mirroring the legacy cable models they once sought to disrupt. The aggressive rollout of lower-priced, ad-supported tiers (AVOD), combined with a surge in reality programming and live sports, indicates a strategic pivot toward mass-market appeal and consistent weekly engagement. This is a departure from the previous reliance on high-budget "tentpole" dramas to drive one-time subscriber acquisition.

For content producers, the landscape is shifting dramatically. The market for high-concept, high-budget scripted series is tightening. In its place, platforms are prioritizing cost-efficient formats, specifically unscripted content and sports-adjacent programming.

For the consumer, the streaming experience is becoming more fragmented and incrementally more expensive. As the bidding wars for live sports rights intensify, those costs will inevitably be passed down through higher subscription fees. With advertising becoming a permanent fixture of the digital landscape, the era of a centralized, high-quality content library available at a single, low price point is effectively over.

For Vietnamese-American families, these shifts in the digital landscape will directly impact how they consume media at home and in their businesses. From households in Little Saigon to the TVs running in the background of nail salons and phở restaurants, the rise of ad-supported tiers and higher subscription costs—driven by ballooning sports rights—will put a dent in monthly budgets already stretched by remittances or the legal fees associated with F2B, H-1B, and EB-5 visa processes. As Netflix and other major streamers prioritize reality TV and live sports over the premium scripted dramas many in the community have come to love, the entertainment options available to the diaspora are fundamentally changing.