Specialized market research and data analytics firm focused on the media, entertainment, telecoms, sports and gaming industries Ampere’s latest analysis forecasts that global content investment will reach $255 billion in 2026, rising two percent year-on-year.

According to a media statement from the company, growth continues to be driven by sustained investment from global streaming platforms, which are further increasing their share of content spend. While overall growth remains modest, this continued shift is widening the gap with traditional broadcasters, as ongoing advertising pressures impact their ability to increase content investment.

In 2025, streamers overtook commercial broadcasters for overall contribution to the content spend landscape for the first time, marking a major inflection point for the industry, Ampere stated.

In 2026, streamers (including both ad-funded and subscription-based platforms) are expected to further build on this lead, seeing 6 percent growth in their content expenditure and reaching $101 billion in spend, or 40 percent of the global market.

Meanwhile, traditional broadcasters (including pay TV operators, commercial broadcasters and public broadcasters) are expected to see stagnant or declining investment as advertising pressures persist and production costs rise, widening the gap between them and global streamers.

Much of the decline, according to Ampere’s analysis, is driven by the US-based companies, for whom studio parents are redirecting more of their budget towards owned streaming operations, while companies outside the US show greater resilience, maintaining more stable investment levels through 2026.

This accelerating shift in content investment toward streaming underscores a structural rebalancing of the global TV market, with scale and reach emerging as the central competitive differentiators for operators.

(Chart courtesy Ampere Analysis)