NEW RESEARCH: The Season of Live — How Live Sports and "Christmas Creep" Dictate CTV Value

GET THE REPORT: 2026 Holiday Season: The Season of Live

The holiday season is the busiest and most contested stretch of the year on connected TV (CTV) platforms. As viewers settle in for the winter, live games, seasonal films, and new content launches all compete fiercely for the exact same rows and hero slots.

But in a streaming market where overall screen real estate is barely expanding, how do platforms actually grow their audience share?

The latest data from Looper Insights, analyzing the 2025 holiday season, reveals exactly how the biggest players leveraged live events and early seasonal drops to dominate the most valuable space on the TV screen.

The Flat Market Reality

The overt narrative of the Season of Live report is that live sports and holiday content generate massive placement value. The hidden lead, however, is a harsh reality for streaming operators: growth on the home screen is a zero-sum game.

Between September and the core holiday weeks of 2025, total placement value on the leading US CTV platforms rose by just 1.8%. The market is essentially flat.

Because overall real estate is not expanding, any gain by one streamer means a direct loss of screen share for a competitor. Holiday growth must be won, not given.

Only three major services managed to significantly outpace the market and win a larger share of the screen during the holidays:

Get the report 2026 Holiday Season: The Season of Live

The common denominator? All three platforms successfully paired aggressive live sports slates (NFL, Champions League, NBA, Premier League) with deep libraries of seasonal holiday content.

Why it matters: In a near-flat market, holiday growth has to be won directly from competitors, which means services need a plan for screen space from the very start of the season. Pairing live events with seasonal content is the proven pattern for winning that highly contested real estate.

The Prime Video Sports Monopoly

Live sports are the ultimate cheat code for securing premium CTV real estate, and nobody played the game better in 2025 than Prime Video.

Over the core holiday weeks, live sports generated a staggering $20.7 million in total placement value across leading US platforms.

Prime Video carried close to half of that entire value, generating $9.46 million alone. This dominance was built on the back of the NBA, the Emirates NBA Cup, and heavily promoted events like Black Friday Football.

The value of prime placement cannot be overstated: a single live placement for Prime Video's Black Friday Gameday in Roku's hero slot was valued at an incredible $364,000.

While Prime Video led the pack, a broad field of competitors carved out their own live moments:

(Image credit: Looper Insights 2026 Holiday Season: The Season of Live)

Why it matters: Live sports value depends heavily on where a game sits on the screen. Rights holders and streaming services need a placement plan just as much as a broadcast plan, because each live event is a very short window to capture audience attention before it vanishes.

The "Christmas Creep" Strategy

If you wait until Thanksgiving to launch your holiday campaigns, you have already lost the digital shelf.

The data confirms the "Christmas Creep" is real and highly profitable. In 2025, holiday content value began building steadily in October. By Thanksgiving week, seasonal content was already at almost half of its eventual Boxing Day (December 26) peak.

The streamers that win the holiday season are the ones that establish their seasonal presence early.

• Prime Video led the category with $33.5M in holiday content value.

• The Roku Channel followed with $26.4M.

• Disney+ secured $21.8M.

By Boxing Day, holiday content peaked at more than 60 times its late-September value, hitting $21.18 million.

Why it matters: With so many seasonal titles landing in a short window, watching each one go live in the right rows is what turns an early plan into early visibility. The window to own Christmas opens well before Thanksgiving, and the services that build early hold the screen through to the peak.

WATCH: Lucas Bertrand, CEO of Looper Insights, explains why the digital shelf analogy is the entire business.

Things To Do About This Now

1. Treat the Home Screen Like a Retail Shelf With the CTV OS market practically flat, marketing teams must treat the TV interface like a highly contested retail endcap. You cannot assume your content will naturally surface; you must track your exact placement value against your competitors.

2. Anchor Seasonal Content to Live Events The formula for holiday growth in 2026 is clear: combine high-intent live events with deep seasonal libraries. If your platform has a live sports moment, use that traffic to aggressively cross-promote your holiday catalog.

3. Launch Holiday Campaigns in October The window to own Christmas opens well before Thanksgiving. Push classic seasonal titles to the home screen early to secure your share of voice before the platform interfaces become entirely saturated in late November.

4. Download the Looper Insights report. They've been a great partner to State of Streaming and bring a truly unique take to the dynamics playing out in streaming and connected TV.