This is a reader-supported publication. If you like what I do, help me keep doing it by upgrading to Streaming Made Easy Premium, we got a free month giveaway code right here for you 🫶
IBC’s over and the power plays are back. A German Operator takes on the OS layer. Amazon’s DSP business makes its mark. Broadcasters strike new alliances. AI’s governance is MIA in advertising.
Happy weekend everyone ☀️
🇩🇪 How Germans stream
They are watching more, clicking more and co-viewing like never before. A new Magnite study finds 78% of Germans stream via CTV, with most doing so in shared living rooms. And it’s not just passive viewing: co-viewing boosts ad memorability, relevance and purchase intent.
Live sports, second screens and shoppable ads are also gaining ground.
⚽ Ligue 1+ smashes its annual target
in just 30 days… Over 1M subscribers signed up for Ligue 1+ (when DAZN plateaued at 700K last season).
The “just right” pricing (at 14.99€), strong club support, immersive editorial formats and wide distribution helped the platform exceed its full-season target before September even ended.
But is this success sustainable or just launch hype with a glass ceiling on the horizon?
→ Explore what they’ve managed to build from scratch in a few months' time.
📺 TF1 PUB’s TV advertising ROI?
5.9€ per 1€ spent on average.
New Ekimetrics study shows TV outperforms all other media in ROI. TF1’s prime time slots, TNT channels, and sponsorship formats are delivering serious returns and the results aren’t anecdotal. The data covers 700 campaigns across 30 major advertisers.
While digital dominates the buzz, turns out the right mix of reach and format makes TV a performance powerhouse too.
→ Find out what levers actually work.
🎁 Free month of SME Premium still live
Want deeper insights into Europe’s streaming wars? Unlock all our essays and expert breakdowns with a Streaming Made Easy Premium subscription.
Claim your free month of Streaming Made Easy Premium (ends Sept. 30th).
📺 Whale TV gets granular
on the The Media Odyssey Podcast, expect to see them singled out moving forward along top global TV OS players.
LISTEN and/or WATCH in full here: APPLE PODCASTS | SPOTIFY | YOUTUBE
🤖 AI everywhere but governance is MIA
85% of European ad companies use AI tools today, mostly for targeting and content generation.
But fewer than half have formal marketing-specific guidelines… and only a third receive guidance from the buy-side.
Adoption is booming. Investment is growing. But privacy concerns, skill gaps and lack of internal governance are holding back full deployment especially on the publisher side.
So how far ahead is ad tech on AI really?
→ Grab the full IAB Europe report
🤝 FranceTV joins RTL AdAlliance’s premium media constellation
New deal makes RTL the global sales rep for France Télévisions.
With this move, FranceTV’s inventory joins ITV, M6, RAI and more, simplifying access for international advertisers. It’s a big step toward a unified “total video” offer. But will buyers bite, or still default to Big Tech?
→ Get the story behind the partnership.
📈 Amazon DSP taking 20% of open auction volume
in France. Prisma Media just shared its latest DSP data: while DV360 dominates and The Trade Desk grows, Amazon’s mix of data and Prime Video is showing traction.
The question now is: Will Amazon become the go-to DSP beyond just its own data and Prime?
→ See the Prisma Media's DSP market share breakdown, enlightening.
🛋️ The end of the set-top box era?
No more boxes, no more cables. One OS, everything built-in.
Magenta TV and Hisense/VIDAA are turning Smart TVs into a true operator service, merging linear, streaming and connectivity out of the box. Starting in 2026, buyers of Hisense TVs in Germany will be presented two options “Vidaa” or “Magenta TV” when they unbox and set up their TV:
If you click Vidaa, it’s like any Hisense TV, you are on the Vidaa platform (where you will find the Magenta TV app set to launch before year end).
If you click Magenta TV, then you are on the Magenta platform.
I’m told you can always go back to reboot your initial setting.
This move makes sense for an operator like Magenta TV who wants to be the entry point to your entertainment experience (like they are with their own and operated devices). For Vidaa, it’s really down to the deal terms because they effectively lose the ability to monetise these TVs (unless the user changes the setting to revert back to Vidaa).
First in Germany, rest of Europe later. Until then, meet the first “Operator Smart TV”.
🗳️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.