Hub Entertainment Research has issued its predictions for the key trends to watch in 2026, including a boom in niche sports, more bundles and YouTube’s continued big-screen dominance.
Next year is expected to see increased investment in “mid-tier and niche sports with passionate followings,” per Jon Giegengack, principal and founder at Hub, as the cost of acquiring top-tier events becomes “too costly for all but the biggest media players.” Volleyball and tennis are expected to see expanded distribution, Giegengack noted, as well as women’s leagues and “participant-driven properties” like pickleball and cornhole; “sports that already attract devoted audiences and are increasingly TV- and streaming-ready.”
Subscription overload continues to plague not just streaming, but all media platforms, Giegengack continued. “As households juggle more paid services, 2026 will bring an expansion of bundles from pay-TV operators and other aggregators such as telcos and Amazon. These packages will increasingly combine TV with adjacent entertainment like gaming and music, as well as non-entertainment subscriptions ranging from grocery delivery to fitness and e-learning. For pay TV providers, bundling represents a powerful way to reduce churn by delivering value that standalone streaming services can’t match.”
Meanwhile, YouTube will continue to exert its significant influence on the living room television. Jason Platt Zolov, senior consultant at Hub, predicts the UGC content giant will amp up its slate of licensed, long-tail movies and classic TV series. “By packaging and promoting familiar titles in ways that appeal to audiences encountering them for the first time, YouTube is poised to extend its dominance beyond short-form and capture more living-room viewing,” he said.
Zolov also expects a “turning point” in Netflix’s gaming strategy. “With high-profile talent attached to promote and legitimize its titles, Netflix has the opportunity to turn a simple, accessible game into a shared, living-room phenomenon—akin to the cultural moment created by Wordle.”
Addressing the discovery conundrum, Mark Loughney, senior consultant at Hub, says next year could see Prime Video introduce a universal video search function spanning multiple platforms. “By positioning itself as the easiest place to find anything to watch, Amazon stands to become a default viewing hub, with more consumers centralizing and managing their subscriptions through the Prime Video interface.”
2026 will also see the fate of Warner Bros. Discovery crystallized. Loughney noted, “Netflix could fold HBO’s premium content into its flagship service and rebrand HBO’s linear channels under the Netflix name. Once synonymous with prestige television, the HBO brand would finally meet its demise after more than 50 years—its legacy overtaken by streaming-era scale, successive mergers, and strategic missteps.”
