What’s Next for Streaming in 2026?
Happy New Year! I hope you all enjoyed the holiday break, ate too much food, and perhaps even took a few days off from the grind.
We are back for another year of Stream Report, and we are sticking to tradition. Last year, I gave you 25 predictions for 2025 (and managed to get quite a few right).
The industry feels different entering 2026. The “growth at all costs” era is over. Platforms are cleaning up their metrics, optimizing for better ad delivery, and finally taking creator safety seriously.
Here are my 20 Predictions for 2026, covering the tech, the platforms, and the creator economy. Let’s dive in!
🟣 Twitch
1. Twitch Raises Sub Prices (But Adds Benefits)
Inflation and Amazon’s push for profitability will strike again. Expect Tier 1 subs to hit $6.99 (or higher) in major regions. However, to soften the blow, Twitch will bundle this with a new benefit like higher bitrate viewing or exclusive chat features for subscribers.
2. Amazon Shopping Integration 2.0
They have tried this in the past with the Blacksmith extension, but 2026 is the year Amazon revisits it properly. Expect a direct, integrated overlay that detects the game you are playing or the product you are using (like a headset) and allows viewers to buy it via Prime without ever leaving the stream, with revenue attribution tracked automatically.
3. Sponsorship Dashboard Targets Micro-Influencers
Twitch will open the Sponsorship Dashboard to Affiliates, but the rates will be lower than Partner bounties. Instead, brands will use it to target micro-influencers at scale with lower CPMs, allowing for quantity over quality marketing campaigns.
4. 4K Streaming for Select Partners
With the 2K rollout in 2025 and the transition to Amazon’s CDN complete, Twitch will finally unlock 4K streaming options. This won’t be for everyone, but major Esports broadcasts and select high-profile Partners will get access to compete with YouTube’s picture quality.
5. Twitch Deprecates “Stories”
Twitch Stories hasn’t gained the traction they hoped for. In an effort to declutter the mobile app, the feature will be quietly sunsetted to make room for features people actually use, like the Discovery Feed.
6. Dan Clancy Steps Down as CEO
Following a turbulent 2025 regarding safety and the PR disaster at TwitchCon (Issue #200), Amazon will look to replace the “Community CEO” with a “Business CEO” to steer the ship toward profitability, signalling a major shift in Twitch’s corporate culture.
7. Co-Streaming Opens to All Partners
Last year Twitch launched official co-streaming for Main Broadcasters. In 2026, they will democratize this feature, allowing any Partner to opt-in to co-stream specific events without needing manual whitelisting.
🔴 YouTube
8. Gemini AI Becomes a “Mod”
YouTube will integrate Gemini AI directly into the chat infrastructure to answer viewer questions like “What game is this?” automatically. It won’t provide much value, but that won’t stop them from forcing it upon us.
9. Real-Time Dubbing
Live translation goes mainstream, but not via third-party tools. YouTube will roll out native AI dubbing for livestreams, allowing creators to output secondary audio tracks in Spanish or Portuguese in near real-time.
10. YouTube Adds “Redeemable Rewards”
They added the XP system last year, but you can’t do anything with it yet. In 2026, YouTube will finally close the loop by adding a “Channel Points” equivalent shop where viewers can redeem XP for highlighted messages or emote unlocks.
11. YouTube Multiview for Creators
Currently reserved for the NFL and sports packages, YouTube will unlock Multiview technology for select creator events, allowing viewers to watch multiple perspectives of a collaboration or tournament on a single screen.
🎬 Industry & Content
12. Nuisance Crackdown
Last year I predicted event crackdowns. In 2026, this escalates. The rise of “harassment for content” will force platforms to implement strict new policies banning creators whose content relies on disturbing the peace.
13. The Group Channel Reset
Following the FaZe Clan roster wipe in late 2025, we will see a resurgence of creator collectives. However, they won’t be Orgs owned by VCs; they will be creator-owned co-ops like the Sidemen model.
14. VTubing Barriers Crumble
I predicted growth last year, and 2026 will see that trend accelerate. Driven by the massive success of icons like Ironmouse and the breakout rise of TheBurntPeanut, VTubing will cease to be a niche. We will see high-end 3D mocap gear become affordable for the average streamer, while simple reactive PNG avatars become the default standard for anyone prioritizing privacy.
15. Netflix Licenses Creator Catalogs
Netflix is losing the battle for TV watch time to YouTube. In 2026, instead of trying to beat them, they will join them. I expect Netflix to license evergreen back-catalogs from top-tier YouTubers (like Mark Rober or Michelle Khare) to fill their ad-supported tiers.
16. AI Voice Legal Precedent
This is the big legal battle of 2026. A major figure or celebrity will successfully issue a DMCA takedown against a channel using an AI model trained on their voice, forcing all platforms to recognize Voice as copyrightable IP.
💻 Tools & Tech
17. POV Streaming Goes Mainstream
Leveraging tech like Meta Ray-Bans, we will see a surge in POV streaming categories; cooking, travel, and maker streams filmed entirely from the streamer’s eye level without a heavy camera rig.
18. OBS Studio Adds Native Multi-Streaming
Last year I said multistreaming was hard to scale. This year, the tech catches up. OBS Studio will finally add a native option to output to multiple platforms in the core build, removing the need for plugins like Aitum Vertical.
19. AI-Generated Emotes
Twitch or a third-party tool will launch a “AI Emote Maker” that creates consistent, style-matched emotes based on a streamer’s brand and community. If it’s launched by Twitch it’ll face major backlash.
20. Meld Studio Rivals OBS
Meld Studio will emerge as a major OBS competitor for beginners in 2026. It’s becoming such a strong contender that I might be putting them head-to-head in a video very soon…
And there you have it – 20 predictions for 2026! I’ll be revisiting these at the end of the year to see how many I got right (and how many I completely missed the mark on).
Here’s to a year of growth, creativity, and exciting opportunities for all of us in the livestreaming and content creation world. Wishing you a successful and inspiring start to 2026!
Thanks for reading! See you next week.
Pete ✌️
