Global Streaming Market July 2026: Platform Launches, Expansions and Exits

July 2026 was a month of vertical video, bundle restructuring, and infrastructure expansion. Chile's state broadcaster launched a dedicated short-form app. Three new platforms entered the US market from different angles: a multi-network consolidator, a hyperlocal FAST service, and a filmmaker-led vertical drama subscription service. Disney moved aggressively to migrate subscribers onto Disney+-anchored bundles. Amazon extended its Prime Video Channels add-on infrastructure to three new European markets. And a new women's sports streaming service launched across multiple continents. The month's patterns point toward a market continuing to fragment at the edges while major players tighten their bundle ecosystems at the center.

Latin America: TVN goes vertical

The most distinctive development in Latin America this month was the launch of TVN Vertical by Chilean state-owned broadcaster TVN on July 9. The free app, available on iOS and Android, extends TVN's existing vertical fiction offering into a dedicated OTT destination for its self-produced vertical micro dramas. The app surpassed 20,000 downloads in its first week, demonstrating that domestic appetite for the format extends beyond the Asian platforms that pioneered it.

The titles available at launch, including Amor sin Culpas, Auditoría de Amor, Mi Marido Me Robó la Memoria, and Acelera mi Corazón, had collectively accumulated over 100 million views across digital platforms before the app's release. That existing audience base distinguishes TVN Vertical from a cold launch: it is bringing an established viewership from social platforms into a dedicated streaming environment rather than building an audience from scratch.

Brazilian telco TIM launched TIM Play on July 3, a new aggregator streaming platform combining live free-to-air and pay TV channels, film rental, and resale of major streaming services including Netflix, Paramount+, Disney+, HBO Max, Globoplay, YouTube Premium, and Deezer. The platform is available exclusively to TIM postpaid and control mobile customers across three tiers: Standard at R$9.90 (films only), Advanced at R$29.90 (adding 16 free-to-air channels), and Premium at R$89.90 (62 pay channels including SporTV and ESPN). TIM Play follows the telco aggregator model that has proven effective in other markets, using an existing mobile customer base as the distribution infrastructure for a bundled streaming offer.

For content strategy and distribution teams tracking Latin American streaming trends, both launches are worth noting. TVN Vertical signals that vertical drama has reached platform-level legitimacy with public broadcasters in the region. TIM Play adds a new aggregator channel through which major streaming services reach Brazilian mobile audiences, which changes the discovery and attribution picture for content distributed through those services.

EMEA: women's sports gets its own D2C service, Diamond Films+ launches in Spain, Prime Video Channels expands

The most structurally significant EMEA development of the month was the launch of W-Sport Player on July 17, a dedicated direct-to-consumer streaming app for women's sport from broadcaster W-Sport. Available on desktop, iOS, and Android in selected territories across Europe, Asia, and Africa, the service offers up to 10 live events per week alongside on-demand competitions, highlights, originals, and documentaries. Rights held include the Barclays Women's Super League, Frauen-Bundesliga, DFB Pokal, Serie A Women, Coppa Italia, SuperCoppa, Gainbridge Super League, and OBOS Damallsvenskan. The service is priced from $2.99 per month or $20 per year.

The W-Sport Player launch reflects a broader pattern: rights packages for women's sports have grown in commercial value to the point where dedicated streaming infrastructure can be justified, rather than distributing through general sports platforms where women's sport has historically received secondary placement and limited discoverability.

Also in EMEA, Viaplay Group announced on July 2 the sale of its Dutch streaming and broadcasting operations to Videoland, owned by Belgium's DPG Media, for €142 million on a cash and debt free basis. The deal closes Viaplay's five-year presence in the Netherlands and completes the group's international retreat following previous exits from the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Baltics. Viaplay is returning strategic focus to its core Nordic markets. For content owners who had licensed through Viaplay in the Netherlands, the transition to Videoland creates a change in the distribution relationship that will require assessment of how existing arrangements carry through to the new operator.

In Spain, Amazon Prime Video launched Diamond Films+ on July 1 as a new SVOD channel within its Prime Video Channels offering. Programmed by Diamond Films, the service focuses on Hollywood and international independent cinema, including Oscar winners and selections from Sundance, Cannes, and Berlin, with a rotating catalog and monthly premieres. Diamond Films+ had previously launched across Latin American markets, making the Spain launch an extension of an established product rather than a new concept.

Amazon also expanded its Prime Video Channels add-on subscription infrastructure to Denmark, Norway, and Switzerland on July 28. The expansion allows customers in these markets, with or without Prime membership, to subscribe to third-party streaming services directly within the Prime Video app under a single Amazon account. Denmark and Norway launched with SkyShowtime, Apple TV, HBO Max, MGM+, Crunchyroll, Hayu, Lionsgate+, BritBox, and MUBI. Switzerland launched with Apple TV, MGM+, Crunchyroll, Hayu, Lionsgate+, CineMix+, Universal+, and MUBI.

For the platforms newly available through these Channels arrangements, the distribution benefit is access to Amazon's existing account infrastructure in markets where establishing a direct billing relationship with subscribers is a meaningful friction point. For distributors and rights holders monitoring platform availability intelligence, the Channels expansion into three new European markets changes the competitive availability picture for the services now accessible through them.

North America: three new platforms, a major bundle restructuring, and Peacock on YouTube TV

July's North American developments were dominated in volume by new platform launches and in strategic significance by Disney's bundle restructuring.

Get After It Media launched Heartland+ on July 8, consolidating several of the company's networks, including The Heartland Network, Retro TV, Rev'n Action, and Hasbro Legends, with content from Unbeaten Sports Channel and Stingray into a single streaming platform offering live television, on-demand movies and series, original programming, and curated music channels.

FreeCast launched FreeCast Cities on July 9, a direct-to-consumer platform delivering localized experiences tailored to each of the 210 US Designated Market Areas. Each market provides a locally branded destination combining local broadcast television, hundreds of free FAST channels, on-demand movies and shows, optional premium services, and integrated subscription management. The platform is rolling out on a market-by-market basis, which makes it structurally different from a single national launch and more akin to a franchise model for local streaming.

Hollywood veterans Jeffrey Schenck, Barry Barnholtz, and Peter Sullivan launched VertTV on July 22, a filmmaker-led premium vertical micro drama subscription service. The mobile-first app debuted with a library of over 200 licensed titles featuring established TV and film talent, including Vivica A. Fox, Jodie Sweetin, John Brotherton, Marla Sokoloff, Josh Henderson, and Cindy Busby, alongside a monthly slate of originals beginning with Lone Star Hearts. The service launched on a subscription basis with plans to add ad-supported and transactional tiers.

The month's most significant structural development was Disney's acceleration of its bundle restructuring. Disney is actively migrating subscribers away from older Hulu-led packages toward Disney+-anchored plans where Hulu content is nested inside Disney+. The company discontinued certain credits previously applied to legacy multi-service packages and is notifying users on ad-free Hulu bundle deals that their ad-free Hulu option is being canceled and moved to ad-supported Hulu. Users who want to retain ad-free Hulu must switch to a new Disney+-anchored bundle. For content owners distributing through Hulu, the shift in how that content is accessed and discovered within the bundle hierarchy has direct implications for visibility and engagement.

Peacock announced on July 1 that its ad-free Premium Plus plan will be available through YouTube TV Primetime Channels, extending its distribution into a major virtual MVPD's channels marketplace alongside a STARZ add-on option.

Fandango officially unified its consumer entertainment experiences under the Fandango brand on July 15, following a recent rebrand of its streaming service from Fandango at Home. The rebranded platform combines free streaming, movie ticketing, and premium rentals and purchases under one umbrella, and introduces guest viewing without an account requirement and a one-click Watch Now feature, rolling out across mobile, web, and connected TV.

Global: epis launches as the first premium vertical TV streaming service

RoseBerry Media launched epis on July 14, billed as the world's first premium vertical TV streaming service. Available globally via App Store, Google Play, and mobile web at epis.tv, the platform debuted with over 100 titles spanning true crime, drama, reality, dating, factual entertainment, and documentary, all professionally reformatted for vertical viewing. RoseBerry has secured content agreements with A+E Global Media, All3Media International, Banijay Rights, Cineflix Rights, and Fremantle to repurpose selected library shows into vertical TV content.

The epis launch is structurally different from the other vertical drama services that launched this month. TVN Vertical and VertTV are building original content for vertical screens. epis is reformatting existing horizontal library content into vertical format, which is a different production model with different cost implications and a different relationship to the established television library market. For rights holders with large libraries, epis represents a new licensing channel for content that has already been produced and amortized.

What July's signals mean for content strategy

July's developments reinforce three dynamics worth tracking into the second half of 2026.

Vertical drama is generating platform infrastructure investment across multiple business models simultaneously. TVN Vertical (public broadcaster, free, original content), VertTV (filmmaker-led, subscription, original content), and epis (aggregator, subscription, reformatted library content) all launched in the same month. The format has moved well past the question of whether it works and into a phase where multiple distinct business models are competing to capture the opportunity.

Bundle architectures are consolidating around anchor brands while smaller players exit. Disney's aggressive migration toward Disney+-anchored bundles and Amazon's Channels expansion into three new European markets both reflect the same strategic direction: major platforms are building ecosystems where content from multiple services is accessible through a single customer relationship. Simultaneously, Viaplay's exit from the Netherlands and its broader international retreat illustrates the difficulty of sustaining a challenger position in markets where infrastructure and customer acquisition costs favor the incumbents.

The telco aggregator model is gaining new momentum in Latin America. TIM Play in Brazil follows a model that has proven effective in other markets, using an existing mobile customer base as the distribution channel for a bundled streaming offer. For streaming services that are now available through TIM Play, the channel provides access to a mobile-first audience that may not have subscribed directly.

Acting on these signals requires current, verified data about where content is available, how platforms are structured, and where distribution opportunities are opening as new services launch and others exit. Origin Insights tracks all platform launches, expansions, updates, and exits across more than 1,000 streaming services in 249 countries, updated continuously so that the picture reflects today's market rather than last quarter's.3

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