TV Streaming Services: AI Market Discovery Index

Tracking how AI platforms recommend tv streaming services. This public AI Market Discovery Index is updated monthly since July 2026.

By Mark Huntley, J.D.Growth Strategist & AI Discovery Analyst

6 minutes read

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On this page

01Benchmark Summary
02Current Benchmark at a Glance
03Research Scope and Qualification
04Current Brand Standings
05How to Read the Standings
06Recommendation Coverage Movement
07Category Leader: Hulu
08Riser: Netflix
09Riser: YouTube TV
10Recommendation Placement Snapshot
11Buyer-Intent Distribution
12Historical Measurement Record

Benchmark Summary

The TV Streaming Services category was quiet in September 2026, with no tracked brand moving beyond normal month-to-month variation. Hulu continued as the coverage leader with 37.1% valid recommendation coverage in September 2026, down from 40.6% in July 2026. The gap to the next brand, YouTube TV, narrowed to 3.6 points, with YouTube TV at 33.5% in September 2026, up from 29.8% in July 2026. The largest coverage increases over the full series belonged to Netflix, which moved to 26.5% in September 2026 from 22.3% in July 2026, and YouTube TV, which moved to 33.5% from 29.8%. The largest coverage decline was Hulu, which moved to 37.1% in September 2026 from 40.6% in July 2026. Category-wide, the benchmark described September 2026 as a quiet month.

Across the three-month series, several brands moved consistently even though no single month crossed the significance threshold. Netflix rose in valid recommendation coverage in each month since July 2026 (22.3% in July 2026, 25.2% in August 2026, 26.5% in September 2026). Disney+ declined in each of the two months since July 2026 (29.7% to 28.8% to 27.6%). The benchmark began with 800 prompt-surface observations in each month and produced 728 qualified observations in September 2026 after qualification.

AI recommendation trend

valid recommendation coverage, Jul 2026 to Sep 2026

Hulu37.1%
YouTube TV33.5%
HBO Max28.8%
Disney+27.6%
Amazon Prime Video27.2%
Netflix26.5%
Peacock25.0%
Paramount+24.3%
Sling TV24.2%
Apple TV+23.8%

Current Benchmark at a Glance

Measure	Jul 2026	Sep 2026	Movement
Qualified benchmark observations	727	728	Up 1
Tracked brands	10	10	No change
Qualified surface breadth	6	6	No change
Recommendation-shaped answer share	21.0%	20.3%	Down 0.7 points
Valid recommendation shortlist share	33.8%	34.1%	Up 0.3 points
Leader by valid recommendation coverage	Hulu	Hulu	No change

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 a recommendation-shaped answer share of 19.7%, the middle point of the series.

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

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Research Scope and Qualification

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

Research stage	Jul 2026	Sep 2026	What it represents
Source prompt-surface observations	800	800	Total prompts collected across surfaces
Unique questions	573	587	Distinct questions after de-duplication
Brand / competitor mentions	800	800	Prompts mentioning at least one tracked brand
Relevant observations	783	767	Prompts relevant to the category
Irrelevant observations	17	33	Prompts not relevant to the category
Qualified benchmark observations	727	728	Public denominator after all qualification

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

Current Brand Standings

Brand	Presence rate	Valid recommendation coverage	Top-three rate	Rank-one rate	Net sentiment
Hulu	98.2%	37.1%	12.4%	2.2%	0.48
YouTube TV	82.7%	33.5%	9.9%	7.7%	0.51
HBO Max	85.0%	28.9%	14.6%	3.4%	0.42
Disney+	89.6%	27.6%	13.3%	2.2%	0.39
Amazon Prime Video	82.4%	27.2%	9.8%	2.9%	0.45
Netflix	92.9%	26.5%	17.7%	16.4%	0.34
Peacock	82.4%	25.0%	2.5%	1.1%	0.39
Paramount+	81.5%	24.3%	2.6%	0.5%	0.40
Sling TV	67.6%	24.2%	2.1%	0.1%	0.46
Apple TV+	73.8%	23.8%	5.8%	0.1%	0.45

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 Market Discovery Metric Definitions.

Recommendation Coverage Movement

Brand	Jul 2026	Sep 2026	Movement since baseline
Hulu	40.6%	37.1%	Down 3.5 points
YouTube TV	29.8%	33.5%	Up 3.7 points
HBO Max	28.9%	28.9%	No change
Disney+	29.7%	27.6%	Down 2.1 points
Amazon Prime Video	26.3%	27.2%	Up 0.9 points
Netflix	22.3%	26.5%	Up 4.2 points
Peacock	28.2%	25.0%	Down 3.2 points
Paramount+	26.1%	24.3%	Down 1.8 points
Sling TV	25.0%	24.2%	Down 0.8 points
Apple TV+	25.7%	23.8%	Down 1.9 points

August 2026 sat at the midpoint of the three-month series. Peacock moved to 25.0% in September 2026 from 28.4% in August 2026. Paramount+ moved to 24.3% in September 2026 from 27.0% in August 2026. YouTube TV moved to 33.5% in September 2026 from 30.7% in August 2026, extending its two-month upward pattern in valid recommendation coverage.

Category Leader: Hulu

Hulu remained the category leader with 37.1% valid recommendation coverage in September 2026, down from 40.6% in July 2026. This movement was within normal month-to-month variation. Hulu's wide lead over the rest of the category compressed from 10.8 points over YouTube TV in July 2026 to 3.6 points by September 2026.

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Riser: Netflix

Netflix recorded the largest cumulative gain of the series, rising 4.2 points to 26.5% valid recommendation coverage in September 2026 from 22.3% in July 2026. The brand moved up in every month of the series (22.3% in July 2026, 25.2% in August 2026, 26.5% in September 2026). Netflix also carried the strongest rank-one rate in the category at 16.4% in September 2026, up from 12.7% in July 2026, and its top-three rate of 17.7% led all brands.

Riser: YouTube TV

YouTube TV rose to 33.5% valid recommendation coverage in September 2026 from 29.8% in July 2026, up 3.7 points, with gains in each month of the series. Its presence rate moved to 82.7% in September 2026 from 76.5% in July 2026, up 6.2 points. YouTube TV's net sentiment was the highest in the category at 0.51 in September 2026.

Coverage declines were spread across several stable brands. Peacock moved to 25.0% in September 2026 from 28.2% in July 2026. Disney+ moved to 27.6% in September 2026 from 29.7% in July 2026, with its rank-one rate moving to 2.2% from 4.7%. Hulu's top-three rate and rank-one rate also moved down over the same period, to 12.4% and 2.2% respectively from 16.8% and 4.4% in July 2026. Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, HBO Max, Sling TV, and Paramount+ all remained within normal month-to-month variation across the series.

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. Netflix presents a striking contrast: its 26.5% valid recommendation coverage ranked sixth in the category, yet its 16.4% rank-one rate was by far the highest, more than double the next brand. Hulu's 37.1% coverage lead came with a 12.4% top-three rate and a 2.2% rank-one rate in September 2026. HBO Max's 28.9% coverage came with a 14.6% top-three rate, the second highest in the category.

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Brand	Sep 2026 top-three rate	Sep 2026 rank-one rate	Jul 2026 top-three rate	Jul 2026 rank-one rate
Netflix	17.7%	16.4%	15.5%	12.7%
HBO Max	14.6%	3.4%	13.9%	3.2%
Disney+	13.3%	2.2%	16.6%	4.7%

Similar coverage levels can still hide very different first-position rates. Netflix's 26.5% coverage produced a 16.4% rank-one rate, while Paramount+'s comparable 24.3% coverage produced a 0.5% rank-one rate.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

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

Buyer-intent class	Jul 2026	Sep 2026
Brand Recommendation	727	728
Pricing & Value	0	0
Multi-Brand Comparison	0	0
Total qualified observations	727	728

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

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

Measurement	Qualified observations	Coverage leader	Leader coverage	Largest coverage movement
Jul 2026	727	Hulu	40.6%	Amazon Prime Video up 0.9 points
Aug 2026	697	Hulu	34.7%	Hulu down 5.9 points
Sep 2026	728	Hulu	37.1%	Netflix up 4.2 points

Evidence and Source Layer

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.

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI 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.

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The public industry benchmark shows category-level standings. A company-level Authority Index can go deeper and identify the prompts, competitors, or sources causing the result.

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