Gracenote’s 2026 State of Play report signals a rising retention risk: More than half of all streaming viewers surveyed say they would be likely to cancel a service if they cannot find programming that interests them

NEW YORK, Nov. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Gracenote, Nielsen’s content intelligence business, today released its fifth annual State of Play report. Its six-country study finds that 78% of streaming viewers ages 18 to 24 want a single program guide that consolidates everything available across the services they use, up from 58% in 2025.

Among all streaming viewers surveyed, 72% share that preference, up from 66% a year ago. More than one in four respondents (27.3%) say they often or always miss a specific show, movie or sports event because they cannot find it, compared with 24.7% a year ago. Separately, 19% say they often or always start their search without a particular program in mind, find nothing to watch and do something else instead.

For streaming services, the stakes extend to subscription decisions. More than half of respondents (51.6%) say they would be very or somewhat likely to cancel a service if they cannot find programming that interests them, compared with 48.5% last year. More broadly, 87.4% say user experience is very or somewhat important when deciding which services to keep, up from 84.2%.

“Viewers want one place to look, even when there are many places to watch,” said Ryan Moore, chief business officer at Gracenote. “That starts with recognizing the same program across services and having accurate information about where to watch it. Gracenote provides that content intelligence, helping platforms guide viewers to the programming they want — even when it’s on another service.”

Additional findings include:

• Live sports draw subscription interest, but viewers struggle to find events. Nearly two-thirds of respondents (65.5%) say they would be very or somewhat likely to subscribe to a service for its live sports offering. Separately, nearly 52% say they frequently do not know which channel or service carries a specific sports event.
• Just one streaming subscription is increasingly the exception. The share of respondents paying for only one service fell to 20.7% in 2026 from 24.5% in 2025, while more than half pay for three or more.
• Subscription overload pushes viewers toward free streaming. Nearly 35% of respondents say they spend more time watching free ad-supported streaming TV because they find the subscription landscape overwhelming.
• Too much choice sends viewers back to familiar titles. Nearly half of respondents (46.8%) say the volume of streaming content and services prompts them to rewatch shows and movies they have already seen instead of seeking something new.

Download Gracenote’s 2026 State of Play report, “Amid Fragmentation Frustrations, UX Is the Future of Streaming.”

Methodology

The consumer findings in this release are based on an online survey conducted Aug. 11-19, 2026, among 3,000 adults ages 18 and older who stream video through a connected device or smart TV, with 500 respondents each in Brazil, France, Germany, Mexico, the U.K. and the U.S. Overall figures reflect the combined six-country sample. Year-over-year comparisons reference the 2025 survey.

About Gracenote

Gracenote is the content intelligence business unit of Nielsen. We standardize the way the global media and entertainment ecosystem indexes content and associated metadata, allowing it to flow between creators, distributors, platforms and advertisers. By providing unmatched depth across 58M titles and 80K+ channels and catalogs, we power the modern search, discovery and navigation experiences that connect people to the TV, movies, music and sports they love — in 70+ languages across 80+ countries. For more information, visit gracenote.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

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SOURCE Gracenote