Disney+ absorbs Hulu as CTV upfronts overtake primetime linear

Streaming ad dollars now outpace primetime TV, but measurement remains fragmented across platforms.

Mariano De Vitto · July 2026

The streaming ad market is consolidating around a few large sellers. Disney is folding Hulu into Disney plus, combining two of the biggest ad supported audiences under one roof and one ad stack.

The scale story shows up in the forecast. Per EMARKETER, US connected TV ad spending is projected at about 37.95 billion dollars in 2026, up roughly 15 percent year over year, and CTV upfront commitments passed primetime linear television's 16.98 billion dollars for the first time. That crossover is a symbolic marker that budgets have followed viewers into streaming.

The catch for buyers is measurement. Netflix, Disney, Amazon, NBCUniversal and Roku each run their own methodology, and those numbers do not reconcile cleanly across platforms. The practical response is to plan CTV as a portfolio, insist on consistent reach and frequency measurement where possible, and treat each platform's native metrics with healthy skepticism.

The Signal Brief · Mariano De Vitto — Head of Marketing, Barcelona