This research is based on unique data collected from our proprietary audience of publisher, agency, brand and tech insiders. It’s available to Digiday+ members. More from the series →This is an excerpt from our Digiday+ Research report “The marketers’ 2026 guide to a shifting CTV landscape, including YouTube, Peacock and Roku,” which analyzes the ad-supported streaming landscape and its role in marketers’ playbooks. The report is based on a survey of 125 brand and agency professionals, as well as individual interviews with marketing executives.
YouTube came out on top for the fourth year in a row as the ad-supported streaming service that received the largest portion of both survey respondents’ ad placements and ad budgets. Seventy-five percent of brand and agency respondents said they currently place ads on YouTube as of Q1 2026. Amazon’s Prime Video (with ads) followed in second place at 47% of respondents, while Hulu and Paramount+ tied in third place at 43% of respondents, respectively.
The top three ad-supported streaming platforms that consumed the greatest portion of marketers’ budgets in 2025 aligned with the top platforms where they place ads, Digiday’s survey found. Half of respondents (50%) said YouTube consumed the largest portion of their company’s ad budget in 2025. Amazon’s Prime Video (with ads) and Hulu followed in second and third place at 18% and 8% of respondents, respectively.
