Report: Streaming audiences increasingly disengaged
September 25, 2026



TVision by Viant has released its 2026 State of Streaming report, built on one of the largest streaming attention panels in the world. The findings challenge assumptions about where viewers are actually paying attention across streaming and linear TV.

Key findings include:


The Big Picture
Attention Gap: People watch 4+ hours of video a day, but only pay attention to ads for about 9 minutes of that — and it’s shrinking every year.
Streaming & Live Events
World Cup: The biggest audiences weren’t the most engaged ones. The two USA men’s matches at the FIFA World Cup 2026 pulled the largest crowds but ranked near the bottom for attention (19th and 24th out of 55 matches). A low-profile South Africa vs South Korea match had almost no reach but topped every other match for attention.
YouTube Creators
Niche vs Mega Creators: Small YouTube channels hold attention better (48 per cent) than huge ones (41 per cent). But big channels get watched in groups far more often (71 per cent co-viewing vs 53 per cent) — so the two types of channels are useful to advertisers in different ways.
Advertising Strategy Takeaways
Holiday Ads by Genre: Holiday commercials do better than regular ads when they run during sports (+5 points of attention) or sci-fi/fantasy/horror shows (+4 points). They do worse during news (-2 points) and reality TV (-1 point).
App vs Programme Attention: Which show someone’s watching matters more than which app they’re watching it on. Individual programs range from 41 per cent to 70 per cent attention, regardless of the app they’re on.
Generational Attention: Older viewers pay attention to ads no matter how many times they’ve seen them. Millennials, though, start tuning out after just four views of the same ad.
“Consumers decide where to spend their attention. The brands that understand how to earn and measure it will be the ones that outperform,” commented Yan Liu, CEO at TVision.