Sky ditches its ‘Glass’ gamble
Sky Live is done. Customers get refunds. The lesson? Simple beats fancy.
Black Friday is coming and the Streaming Made Easy deal isn’t just a discount. It’s a way to turn the newsletter you read into the strategy resource you need. Find out more in today’s edition 👇🏻
🇬🇧 ITVX smashes past 3B streams
ITVX hit 3 billion streams three weeks faster than last year (when they had the Men’s Euro), cementing its lead as the UK’s number one commercial BVOD. Drama Drop Sundays continue to power volume, Soaps are up 30% YoY and Love Island’s 10-year run still drives younger demos at scale.
ITVX is quietly proving that free, frictionless and local still beats most ad-tier plays in the UK and they were not afraid to show it on a BIG screen during the ITV Palooza 2025.
Find out which genre clocks the most hours and more here.
📺 Prominence on CTV: policy vs reality
Europe’s new prominence regimes are here, but visibility still follows whoever pays or performs best. Germany’s Public Value tile is barely clicked. France built the most ambitious framework on paper, but nothing meaningful has shifted in practice. And the UK still has to submit its final copy.
Prominence guarantees access, not attention and not engagement.
🇫🇷 TF1+ 2025 upfront: streaming meets ad tech
TF1+ used its Advertising Upfront to show it’s no longer just a French streamer; it’s becoming a CTV monetisation machine. With 42 million monthly streamers, a 93% reach on 15–34s and a Netflix integration coming mid-2026, TF1+ is positioning itself as the most scalable free-streaming environment in France.
The roadmap? Micropayments, gamification, next-gen formats, cross-data ad targeting with Amazon and a full AI-powered ad manager to automate planning and reporting.
TF1+ is building a platform engineered for engagement and monetisation, not just streaming.
🧩 A strategic upgrade for Black Friday
292 editions later, the mission hasn’t changed: clarity over noise, context over chaos, actionable insights over long essays. SME grew from one edition a week to three because you kept showing up, subscribing, sharing and pushing me to go deeper.
Now I’m testing the next step. During this year’s Black Friday (Nov. 28), SME Premium gets a fast-action upgrade: a brand new annual subscription available exclusively during Black Friday, paired with two live Strategy sessions in December and January, at a rate you’ll only see once this year.
Small group sessions, real challenges, cross-industry perspectives built for people who don’t just want to read strategy but apply it. Year 4 is about making SME more collaborative.
Folks on the waitlist will have first priority 👇🏻
🎬 Tubi builds the bridge Hollywood keeps talking about
Tubi’s creator program is six months old and already reshaping its funnel: 100+ creators, 10K episodes and its first exclusive series slate. The real unlock is the viewing journey where users jump from creator rabbit holes to studio IP inside the same session.
LISTEN and/or WATCH in full here: APPLE PODCASTS | SPOTIFY | YOUTUBE
🇩🇪 A new generation of CEO to reshape European TV
Channel 4 is still looking for its new CEO, BBC needs a new one all of a sudden and RTL just announced it’s bringing back Clément Schwebig from Warner Bros Discovery to take over from Thomas Rabe in May 2026.
It’s a signal. Europe’s broadcasters are no longer looking for custodians of legacy media, they’re hiring operators who understand M&A, partnerships, global streamers and cross-market growth. Schwebig has run portfolios across Europe, Asia and Africa. He knows how to navigate fragmented markets, negotiate with US giants and scale content pipelines.
This is the new CEO profile in European TV: global mindset, deal fluency and no fear of reinvention.
🎥 Sky pulls the plug on Sky Live
Sky will shut down Sky Live on 4 December, issue refunds and discontinue the accessory entirely. The interactive camera was supposed to turn Sky Glass into a social, gaming and fitness hub. In reality, it never broke out beyond early adopters and niche use cases.
We’re going to be focusing our investment where it matters most to customers: faster, simpler products, unbeatable content and brilliant service.
It’s a brutal reminder that CTV doesn’t need gimmicks. It needs content that hits and an interface that makes watching effortless.
🗳️ Poll time
That’s it for today. Enjoy your weekend and see you on Tuesday for a Deep Dive edition of Streaming Made Easy Premium.