FROM THE INDUSTRY
The OTT market has seen some service consolidation. discovery+ fell from 19 operators in March 2024 to only six in July 2026 due to Warner Bros. Discovery’s service consolidation, with distribution shifting to HBO Max. That drop in discovery+’s distribution is mirrored the opposite way, with HBO Max adding 16 operators to reach 36 deals. Comcast (Peacock and SkyShowtime) and Paramount (Paramount+ and Pluto TV) are other potential candidates for service consolidation. Meanwhile, Sweden’s Telia Company AB (publ sold pay TV service C More to TV Media and merged into TV4 Play in Sweden and MTV Katsomo in Finland, while Canal+ SA acquired Orange SA’s OCS and combined it with its five thematic Cine+ channels to create Cine+ OCS. For OTT services, and particularly less prominent ones, operator distribution is key to visibility and growth. This is borne out by the fact that even the leading OTT players look to operators for growth in strained and saturated markets. Both Paramount+ and Apple TV are good recent examples, with the former growing from eight to 15 and the latter from 13 to 23.
exceptions, as they are pan-European rather than truly global. Of the 381 services listed, 325 are integrated into operator billing, while 311 integrate their content into operator platforms as of July 2026. OTT service carriage variation and tiering Of 69 unique services, four dominate with near-universal operator distribution: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and Warner Bros. Discovery Inc.’s HBO Max, accounting for 161 of 381 integrations, or 42.3% of instances. Netflix — with carriage deals spanning 87.3% of operators, Amazon Prime Video with 70.9%, Disney+ with 69.1% and HBO Max with 65.5% — is now so widely distributed that it no longer provides differentiation; the advantage comes from choice, the depth of integration and tiered pricing. Together, the top 10 services account for 263 of 381 instances — 69.0% of all integrations. The remaining 59 unique services account for just 118 instances or 31.0% of all integrations.
Over-the-top (OTT) video services are driving a pay TV platform revival away from rigid proprietary, operator-managed systems to cloud-based, third-party and app-driven platforms that offer flexibility and choice. For 10 years, S&P Global Market Intelligence Kagan has analysed Western Europe pay TV platforms’ integration of subscription video-on- demand (SVOD) OTT services, with the latest report covering 55 operators in 16 markets representing 89.5% of 98.9 million pay TV subscriptions in 2025. The data shows that operators have integrated 69 unique services, with 381 instances of SVOD OTT services carried. Kagan estimates SVOD OTT subscriptions in the 16 markets grew 5.6% to more than 232 million in 2025. The most prominent 10 brands in SVOD OTT — Netflix Inc., Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime Video, Walt Disney Co.’s Disney+ and others — represented 68.2% of integrations. Viaplay AB, in the five Nordic markets and the Netherlands, and SkyShowtime (a Paramount Skydance Corp. and Comcast Corp. joint venture), in 22 markets, mainly in Northern, Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe, are notable
Number of operators integrating key SVOD OTT services, Western Europe
No. of listed operators carrying service March 2024 July 2026
Percentage of operators listed
Netflix
87.3%
43
48
Amazon Prime Video
70.9%
34
39
Disney+
69.1%
28
38
HBO
20
36
65.5%
Apple TV
13
23
41.8%
Viaplay
19 20
36.4%
SkyShowtime
16
19
34.5%
DAZN
15 16
29.1%
Paramount+
8
15
27.3%
Discovery+
10.9%
6
19
0
5 1015202530354045
50
Data compiled July 2026. Percentage of operators llsted = percentage of integration across listed operators as of Ju!y 2026. Sources: Industry data, S&P Global Market Intelligence Kagan estimates. © 2026 S&P Global
Volume 48 No.23 SEPTEMBER 2026
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