Deloitte in 2025 said SVOD content was not worth its price, despite households spending an average of $69 a month on four services. The problem is the gap between possessing content and making its value visible. A vast library can appear small when viewers encounter irrelevant recommendations or struggle to decide what to watch. “Library size is a cost line now. Discoverability is where the return is,” Oreper comments. He argues that basic title-level metadata constrains recommendation systems because it reveals too little about what programmes contain. Richer scene-level information can improve search, recommendations and the reuse of archive material, enabling platforms to surface themes and moments hidden inside older titles. Recommendation engines present a strategic tension: they must reduce browsing time without becoming so narrow that they continually reflect previous choices. Some of television’s strongest experiences come from finding something unexpected or encountering a shared live event. This matters as premium streamers compete with social and creator platforms. YouTube accounted for 12.5% of US television viewing in May 2025, while its viewing on TV screens had risen by more than 120% since 2021. Deloitte also found that a majority of Gen Z and Millennial respondents believed that social platforms offered better film and television recommendations than streaming services. OTT providers are competing with interfaces designed around continuous discovery, not merely rival catalogues. Their response requires better metadata, contextual recommendations and active editorial curation. Bleuenn Le Goffic, VP business transformation at Accedo, says providers do not require Netflix-scale datasets to make meaningful improvements. Viewer information can be combined with rule-based personalisation and AI tools, providing audiences with the ability to experiment beyond established preferences. “Reducing the friction of finding something to watch can have a big impact on engagement,” she explains. This can include improving search and optimising notification timing. The crucial enterprise capability is continuous experimentation: identifying a desired behaviour and measuring the result instead of treating personalisation as a one-off implementation. Hybrid models demand an integrated platform Streaming’s economic future is unlikely to be purely subscription-funded. Deloitte found that around 68% of US streaming subscribers paid for at least one ad- supported service in 2026, more than 20% higher than in 2024. The IAB projected that digital video would capture almost 60% of US television and video advertising expenditure in 2025, compared with 29% in 2020. The distinction between SVOD, AVOD and FAST is consequently becoming less rigid. Providers can reserve premium programming for ad-free subscriptions, offer lower-priced advertising tiers, operate free channels for acquisition and bundle access through third parties. These models allow customers to downgrade, pause or change packages instead of leaving entirely. “Very few
services now rely on a single revenue model,” Le Goffic says. “Hybrid strategies have become the norm.” Paul Davies, head of marketing and partnerships at Yospace, tells FEED that ad-supported tiers can complement subscriptions by retaining less committed customers. Adding advertising, however, is not automatically profitable. Advertisers expect accurate measurement and reliable delivery, while audiences expect advertisements to play without buffering or disruption across live, on-demand and FAST content. Advertising also exposes weaknesses in fragmented technology estates. Content management, customer experience, playback, billing and ad-tech platforms may work effectively in isolation but fail where data passes between them. The result can be repeated advertisements, poor frequency control, inconsistent personalisation and limited visibility of campaign outcomes. Gabrielyan says this disconnect is one of the sector’s central challenges. “For the viewer, streaming is one experience across different services and devices. For advertisers, it remains a highly fragmented ecosystem of platforms, inventory and measurement systems.” Enterprise OTT providers therefore need a shared data foundation that connects content intelligence, audience
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