TV Streaming Services: AI Visibility Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

Questions This Section Answers

• Which TV streaming service leads the category in October 2026, and by how much?
• Which brand posted the largest recommendation coverage gain, and which posted the largest decline?

Hulu leads the TV Streaming Services category in October 2026 with 50.3% valid recommendation coverage, up from 40.6% in July 2026. The gap to the next brand, YouTube TV, is 5.0 percentage points, with YouTube TV at 45.3% in October 2026, up from 29.8% in July 2026. The largest coverage increase across the series belongs to YouTube TV, which moved to 45.3% in October 2026 from 29.8% in July 2026, a rise of 15.5 points. The largest coverage decline is Netflix, which moved to 0.0% in October 2026 from 22.3% in July 2026, a drop of 22.3 points. Netflix carried a valid recommendation coverage of 26.5% in September 2026 before falling to 0.0% in October 2026. The category recorded significant movement this month, with seven brands classified as significant risers and one as a significant decliner.

Across the full July to October 2026 series, YouTube TV rose in valid recommendation coverage in each of the four months (29.8% in July 2026, 30.7% in August 2026, 33.5% in September 2026, 45.3% in October 2026). Amazon Prime Video also rose in each of the four months (26.3% in July 2026, 26.7% in August 2026, 27.2% in September 2026, 35.9% in October 2026). Hulu, Disney+, Paramount+, Peacock, and Sling TV each rose in the final month after mixed movement earlier in the series. The benchmark began with 800 prompt-surface observations in July 2026 and 800 in October 2026, producing 662 qualified observations in October 2026 after qualification.

Current Benchmark at a Glance

Qualified surface breadth refers to the number of canonical AI/search surface families with at least one qualified observation. The six canonical families are ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. August 2026 recorded 697 qualified observations and September 2026 recorded 728, the two intermediate points of the series. Netflix did not register qualified observations in October 2026 and is shown with zero values in the standings below; CiteWork Studios entered the tracked brand set this period, which keeps the total number of actively tracked brands at ten in both July and October 2026 even though the roster composition changed.

For the strategic interpretation of this benchmark, read CiteWorks Studio's analysis of How AI Search Is Recommending TV Streaming Services

Research Scope and Qualification

Questions This Section Answers

• How many observations make it into the public benchmark compared with the raw collection?
• What happens to the prompts that are collected but not counted as qualified?

The public benchmark is narrower than the raw collection universe by design.

Brand-level percentages use the qualified observations as the public denominator, not the raw collection. See AI Visibility Market Discovery Methodology.

Current Brand Standings

Questions This Section Answers

• Which TV streaming services rank highest on valid recommendation coverage?
• How do presence rate, top-three rate, and rank-one rate differ from coverage for the leading brands?
• Why do Netflix and CiteWork Studios show zero across every metric?

How to Read the Standings

• Presence rate: share of qualified observations where the brand is mentioned at all.
• Valid recommendation coverage: share of qualified observations where the brand appears in a valid recommendation, the primary benchmark metric.
• Top-three rate: share of qualified observations where the brand is recommended in the top three positions.
• Rank-one rate: share of qualified observations where the brand is recommended first.
• Net sentiment: positive minus negative mention share.

For formulas and denominator rules, see AI Visibility Market Discovery Metric Definitions.

Recommendation Coverage Movement

Questions This Section Answers

• Which brands recorded significant coverage increases between September and October 2026?
• How large was Netflix's coverage drop, and what did it fall from?

Seven brands recorded significant increases from September 2026 to October 2026: Hulu moved to 50.3% from 37.1%, YouTube TV moved to 45.3% from 33.5%, Peacock moved to 38.8% from 25.0%, Disney+ moved to 38.5% from 27.6%, Amazon Prime Video moved to 35.9% from 27.2%, Paramount+ moved to 35.0% from 24.3%, and Sling TV moved to 34.4% from 24.2%. Netflix moved to 0.0% in October 2026 from 26.5% in September 2026.

Largest Increase: YouTube TV

YouTube TV recorded the largest coverage increase across the series, rising 15.5 points to 45.3% valid recommendation coverage in October 2026 from 29.8% in July 2026. The brand rose in each of the four months of the series. Its top-three rate moved to 26.0% in October 2026 from 10.6% in July 2026, and its rank-one rate moved to 20.8% from 8.2%. Its presence rate moved to 85.2% in October 2026 from 76.5% in July 2026. Its net sentiment was 0.58 in October 2026.

Largest Decline: Netflix

Netflix recorded the largest coverage decline across the series, falling 22.3 points to 0.0% valid recommendation coverage in October 2026 from 22.3% in July 2026. The brand had risen in each of the three months from July through September 2026 before its October 2026 reading. Its rank-one rate moved to 0.0% in October 2026 from 12.7% in July 2026. Its presence rate was 0.0% in October 2026.

Category Leader: Hulu

Hulu remained the category leader with 50.3% valid recommendation coverage in October 2026, up from 40.6% in July 2026. Its top-three rate moved to 28.1% in October 2026 from 16.8% in July 2026, and its rank-one rate moved to 6.3% from 4.4%. Its presence rate was 98.5% in October 2026. Its net sentiment was 0.56 in October 2026.

Stable Brands: Apple TV+, HBO Max, and CiteWork Studios

Apple TV+ and HBO Max were classified as stable. Apple TV+ moved to 28.1% valid recommendation coverage in October 2026 from 25.7% in July 2026. HBO Max moved to 32.2% in October 2026 from 28.9% in July 2026. CiteWork Studios recorded a valid recommendation coverage of 0.0% in October 2026, unchanged from July 2026.

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Questions This Section Answers

• Why can two brands with similar recommendation coverage have very different first-position rates?
• Which TV streaming services convert coverage into top-three and rank-one placements most effectively?

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. YouTube TV's 45.3% coverage came with a 26.0% top-three rate and a 20.8% rank-one rate in October 2026. Hulu's 50.3% coverage came with a 28.1% top-three rate and a 6.3% rank-one rate. Peacock's 38.8% coverage came with a 5.4% top-three rate and a 1.1% rank-one rate.

Similar coverage levels can still hide very different first-position rates. YouTube TV's 45.3% coverage produced a 20.8% rank-one rate, while Peacock's comparable 38.8% coverage produced a 1.1% rank-one rate.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

All qualified observations in the series fell into the Brand Recommendation class.

The current public series measures brand-recommendation discovery only and does not yet contain qualified observations in the pricing or comparison classes.

Historical Measurement Record

Questions This Section Answers

• How many qualified observations has each monthly measurement produced since July 2026?
• Has the coverage leader changed across the four measurements published so far?

This is an evergreen benchmark URL. New measurements are added to the same report.

Evidence and Source Layer

Questions This Section Answers

• What does the benchmark record about citations and attributable sources behind each AI answer?
• Does source presence prove that a citation caused a brand's recommendation?

The benchmark is built from prompt-level observations that retain the query, AI/search surface, answer, brand outcome, recommendation placement, sentiment, and, where exposed, citations or attributable evidence sources. Source presence is evidence about the information environment. It is not automatically proof that the source caused the recommendation.

Scope Boundaries

This public benchmark does not measure market share, attributable sales, every possible AI response, organic-search ranking, social mention volume, or private or sponsored channels. A movement in a metric alone does not establish causality.

Top 10 Cited Domains

Questions This Section Answers

• Which domains are cited most often across AI platform answers about TV streaming services?
• How concentrated are citations among the top domains, and which platforms cite the widest range of sources?

Across all AI platform responses in October 2026, the benchmark observed 6,466 citations drawn from 913 unique domains.

Citations are broadly distributed rather than concentrated in a few domains. No single domain accounts for more than 6.7% of citations, and the top ten domains together account for roughly one third of all citations. Two general-purpose platforms, youtube.com and google.com, top the list. Review and comparison sources feature prominently, with cnet.com, consumerreports.org, nerdwallet.com, tomsguide.com, and cabletv.com all appearing. businessinsider.com and tomsguide.com were cited by the widest range of platforms.

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Visibility Market Discovery Index is a neutral, recurring measurement of how AI and search surfaces mention and recommend brands within a category. It is built from prompt-level observations across six canonical AI/search surface families.

• AI Visibility Market Discovery Methodology
• AI Visibility Market Discovery Metric Definitions
• AI Visibility Market Discovery Research Standards
• Modeled AI Visibility Authority Value

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