Netflix is forecast to reach over 1 billion monthly active users globally by 2027, but YouTube is expected to approach 3 billion users worldwide. Netflix leads as the first-choice service in the United Kingdom.

The numbers come from Omdia, which has presented consumer research suggesting that Netflix is the first choice of video in markets like the United Kingdom and France.

In research conducted in November 2025, Netflix was the first choice of service for 17% of users in the United Kingdom, ahead of Sky TV for 15%, Amazon Prime Video for 10%, YouTube for 9%, and Virgin Media for 5%. BBC iPlayer was the first choice for only 4%, ahead of Disney+ at 3%.

Netflix was the first choice in France for 18%, but YouTube came next at 12%, ahead of telco services Free TV at 10% and Orange TV at 8%, both leading Amazon Prime Video down at 4%.

Maria Rua Aguete of Omdia presented the figures in a session at the Series Mania festival in Lille.

In the same session, Justine Ryst, the chief executive of YouTube for France and Southern Europe, claimed that YouTube spent more on programmes than Netflix.

Since 2021, YouTube has redistributed more than half of its turnover to beneficiaries, amounting to $100 billion, which she said is $20 billion more than Netflix.

“YouTube is not here to replace television, in the broadcasting sense. Our platform is the best ally of broadcasters and producers,” she suggested.

omdia.tech.informa.com
www.netflix.com
www.youtube.com

A broad group of European broadcasting associations has written to the European Commission reiterating a request to designate relevant connected television operating systems and virtual assistant platform operators as gatekeepers in its review of the Digital Markets Act. The letter is signed by a range of organisations, including the Association of Commercial Television and Video on Demand Services in Europe, the European Broadcasting Union, and the European association of television and radio sales houses.

In their submission they note that the television operating system market is becoming more concentrated around large ecosystem platforms.

From 2019 to 2024, Samsung Tizen OS maintained a 24% market share, Android TV increased its market share from 16% to 23%, and Amazon Fire OS rose from 5% to 12%. None of these currently has a dominant position in what remains a fragmented market.

The submission states: “With the future viability of many European TV broadcasters at stake, and with millions of EU businesses and consumers relying on CTVs to promote and access an expanding range of content via TV applications, it is crucial that the Commission designate major TV operating systems as gatekeepers and ensure adequate oversight to guarantee fairness and contestability.”

While connected televisions can offer significant opportunities for European businesses to develop and compete, there is a risk of being undermined by entrenched gatekeeping practices.

Another concern is virtual assistants, like Alexa or Siri. The submissions says that artificial intelligence assistants could become de facto media gatekeepers.

No television operating system or virtual assistant is currently designated under the DMA. The European Commission has designated Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, and ByteDance, but only at the level of specific services.

The letter calls on the European Commission to designate major connected television operating systems and virtual assistant providers as gatekeepers, open a market investigation on the basis of qualitative thresholds, and review the definition of business users to encompass all entities that rely on virtual assistants to reach end users.

The intervention comes at a pivotal moment, as the European Commission conducts its first formal review of the Digital Markets Act, due to report in May 2026. That process is explicitly intended to assess whether the regulation remains fit for purpose in a rapidly evolving market, including the impact of artificial intelligence and new interface layers. In that context, the question is no longer only whether existing gatekeepers should be constrained, but whether the scope of regulation should extend to the mechanisms that increasingly determine how audiovisual services are discovered and accessed.

The issue is not only who controls connected television platforms, but who controls the entry point to audiovisual services. As discovery becomes mediated by operating systems and assistants, it risks becoming a gatekeeper in its own right. Recognising that function could prompt a shift towards regulating discovery as a distinct layer, with implications for how services are listed, ranked, and made available across devices.

www.acte.be
www.ebu.org
www.egta.com

Europe accounts for just 12% of the revenues among over 70 entertainment companies with revenues of more than billion euros. Over 70% of the revenues are for companies in the United States. These are some of the figures from the latest annual Key Trends report from the European Audiovisual Observatory.

In 2024, the average European citizen aged four years or over watched around three-and-a-quarter hours of television a day, although that varies by country, from a couple of hours in some countries, like Sweden, Norway, and the Netherlands, to over four hours and 50 minutes in Portugal, Servia and Hungary.

After a temporary rise during the coronavirus pandemic, average television viewing time has declining by 4% each year, down by 6% in 2024. In some counties it over 10%, including the United Kingdom.

Global online video services now account for almost a quarter of all audiovisual service spending on European programming other than news and sport, up from 8% in 2020.

The European audiovisual market was worth around 142 billion euros in 2024, with consumer spending accounting for over half of that, 27% coming from advertising, and public funding accounting for around 22%.

The advertising market is evolving, as online video subscription services now offer cheaper tiers supported by advertising, free advertising-supported services take off online, and video sharing platforms attract advertising spending that was previously allocated to television.

Online video subscription services now account for around 60% of all television subscriptions. The market is maturing, with growth now coming more from increased prices and additional advertising revenue than by expansion of the subscriber base.

Broadcasters face greater competition. Connected televisions enable more targeted advertising but also risk losing a direct relationship with viewers. Public broadcasters may be more willing to reach viewers wherever they are, even at the expense of losing control over distribution and the boundaries of their remit.

While single films and series are often referred to as audiovisual works in policy terms, they have different financial models. Overall, the production of theatrical films continues to increase in Europe, while the volume of episodic productions in Europe decreased for the second year in a row.

The Key Trends report provides a narrative summary overview. An online Yearbook published each November is available by subscription, with 400 tables and over 40 country profiles.

www.obs.coe.int