2025 Was the Year When Peak Streaming Died – So What’s Next?

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Despite successes like Disney+’s critically acclaimed Season 2 of Andor and Netflix hits such as KPop Demon Hunters and the final season of Stranger Things, 2025 marked the end of the streaming boom. While these shows were popular, they masked a significant change happening within the industry, a change only noticeable when you examine the specifics.

Tony Gilroy, the creator of Andor, said Disney executives told him streaming was no longer a viable business model, and he had to justify the show’s budget after initially being given free rein to spend for the first season. The creators of Stranger Things, the Duffer brothers, told Yahoo! that their show’s success was a rare occurrence, and they worry about getting another chance to tell a story of that scope. Both sets of creators seem to recognize that the golden age of streaming is over, and 2025 marked the turning point.

Streaming Has Failed To Live Up To Its Promise

Disney+ launched in 2019 with the goal of ensuring the company’s long-term success. CEO Bob Iger, as he details in his 2019 memoir, The Ride of a Lifetime, knew it was a gamble. He recalled advising studio heads to shift their focus from their current successful ventures to this new streaming service. He also explained that they would need to collaborate with colleagues from other departments, even though their priorities might differ, and that it would take time before the service became profitable.

Disney’s streaming service finally became profitable in the third quarter of 2024. This turnaround happened because Disney shifted its strategy, creating less new content – particularly for popular franchises like Star Wars and Marvel. They also introduced a cheaper, ad-supported subscription option, similar to traditional television, and are incentivizing users to choose it. This ad tier is now the primary way Disney+ generates revenue. As a result, Disney is focusing more on theatrical releases, which explains why showrunner Gilroy had to justify his project’s budget.

The streaming business model wasn’t built to last. For a long time, companies have mainly focused on keeping existing subscribers, which meant spending a lot of money just to maintain their position. Budgets got out of control, and by 2024, some studios started to pull back. HBO, which had previously kept its shows exclusive to its own platform, even began licensing content to Netflix. Now, at the end of 2025, Netflix and Paramount are competing to buy HBO Max and everything on it.

The Streaming Wars Are Over

According to Bank of America, the intense competition among streaming services has ended, and Netflix’s possible acquisition of Warner Bros. and HBO Max is just the last sign of this shift. The evidence is clear: streaming platforms are creating less new content and spending less money, and we’re no longer seeing a surge of new services launching. Experts predicted platforms would start to fail, and that 2026 would be a year of mergers and acquisitions – and those predictions are proving to be correct.

Streaming services are entering a new phase, prioritizing making money and operating smoothly. The focus is now on keeping viewers engaged – having them watch for longer periods – and then turning that engagement into revenue through advertising options. Netflix’s recent shift to a new way of measuring ad views, and their partnerships with over 50 ad measurement companies globally, demonstrate this commitment. They plan to introduce even more ad formats around the world by the second quarter of 2026.

Don’t Count The Box Office Out Just Yet

Disney isn’t abandoning streaming, but it’s now prioritizing movies in theaters. We’re already seeing this change with Star Wars and Marvel. Marvel plans to release only one or two live-action TV shows annually, and there’s currently only one live-action Star Wars series confirmed – the second season of Ahsoka. This shift is happening even though Marvel and Star Wars shows are key attractions on Disney+ and drive most of the platform’s viewership, alongside Percy Jackson, which is Disney+’s only new franchise that’s really taken off.

Netflix has generally preferred releasing content directly to homes, and CEO Ted Sarandos maintains viewers prefer watching on smaller screens. However, we’re seeing more and more Netflix films and series appearing in cinemas. The successful singalong release of KPop Demon Hunters, a theatrical release for Greta Gerwig’s upcoming Narnia film, and a cinema release for the Stranger Things Season 5 finale demonstrate this trend. While some in the industry worry Netflix might remove Warner Bros. films from theaters, the company clearly seems to be growing more interested in releasing content in cinemas.

The entertainment industry seems to be shifting again, possibly favoring movie theaters. While it’s hard to predict how significant this change will be, especially with current economic pressures affecting cinema attendance, there are clear indications of a move away from peak streaming. This could revitalize the box office and the theatrical experience, which some believed was declining. Whether this continues remains to be seen.

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2026-01-01 01:46