BusinessJun 24, 2026
Television's Future Is Being Decided by Big Tech
Digital Shift
Rhea Lobo
Discover
YouTube has overtaken Netflix in revenue, Instagram is pushing into television, and Fox is betting billions on streaming.
Different companies are making different moves, but they're all responding to the same reality. Big Tech is steadily taking control of the television screen while traditional media companies scramble to stay relevant.
YouTube generated more than $60B in revenue in 2025, surpassing Netflix's roughly $45B. Nielsen's Gauge data also shows YouTube capturing a larger share of TV watch time than any other streaming service
As Netflix stagnates and competing streaming services remain flat or decline, YouTube continues to grow at scale. More than 200B Shorts are viewed on the platform each day, helping it become the largest media company in the world by revenue.
Advertising is becoming just as concentrated. YouTube billed more in video advertising last year than all of broadcast television combined. Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, and ByteDance are projected to command nearly two-thirds of the $260B ad market in 2026.
Meta's Instagram recently launched on Samsung TVs across the US, adding to its existing availability on Amazon Fire TV and Google TV. That puts Instagram on the majority of connected TV devices in the country.
The app is now testing horizontal video, episodic series, and live creator programming. These formats that have historically belonged to traditional broadcasters and streaming services.
Meta's Reels product already generates more than $50B in advertising revenue annually. That figure exceeds the combined ad revenue of Paramount Skydance, Warner Bros. Discovery, and NBCUniversal.
Meta achieved that without the premium ad rates that television commands. Instagram's push into episodic and longform TV formats is designed to capture those higher rates next.
Instagram VP of product Tessa Lyons described television as "the next frontier" for the app. The company is actively recruiting creators to produce serialized content broken into one-to-three-minute episodes.
The entertainment industry's answer to Big Tech's expansion is consolidation. Fox's $22B acquisition of Roku repositions the company as a streaming platform gatekeeper.
Roku is currently the dominant connected TV operating system. With Roku, Fox gains leverage over YouTube, Netflix, and Amazon — all of whom now need Fox as a distribution partner.
David Ellison's $111B deal to merge Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery would create an entertainment company with scale comparable to Netflix and Disney.
The deal is partially financed by Oracle, with Larry Ellison pledging the company's shares as a financial backstop. Netflix itself has been exploring acquisition targets, according to multiple reports.
Big Tech's expansion into entertainment carries a complication beyond market share. Amazon MGM Studios dropped a nearly completed film about OpenAI CEO Sam Altman — shortly after Amazon signed a multi-billion dollar deal with OpenAI.
Apple dropped a Gawker project and parted ways with Jon Stewart over content disagreements. A24 announced a $75M AI research deal with Google the same day the Altman film lost its distributor.
As the Nexstar CEO noted in a recent commentary, Big Tech platforms are "not built to prioritize fact-based journalism or civic discourse." That concern applies beyond news. Creators and filmmakers are raising questions about whether editorial decisions at these companies reflect business partnerships rather than creative judgment.
Every minute a viewer spends on YouTube or Instagram is a minute not spent on a premium streaming service. Traditional media has already lost the smartphone. Now the competition for the TV screen is underway.
