Daniella Kenney.
By Daniella Kenney, Head of Programmatic, Foxtel Media
As we head into 2026, the way we plan and activate programmatic across “BVOD” is no longer fit for purpose. Last year marked a turning point where brands truly leaned into the broader streaming platforms, no longer just adding on to FTA buys.
But not all platforms are equal. There’s been an important shift in not just where audiences are watching, but how and when they’re watching, with new implications for maximising reach, delivery and budget allocations.
In 2026, this shift should lead to a rethink of your programmatic strategy, and here’s why.
Sport: for brands who want a live connector with mass reach
Most viewers juggle multiple streaming subscriptions, leading to a fragmented entertainment landscape where episodes may be binged in a single setting or watched days or weeks apart. Reach builds slowly and incrementally.
Live sport breaks this pattern entirely. On Kayo SPORTS, fans show up day in, day out, across the season. It’s now one of the last true mass-reach moments left, where millions of people arrive at the same time, for the same reason: to watch the sports live in the moment with no spoilers. You can no longer count on entertainment content alone to reach millions of people in a day like it did before.
Why programmatic needs to adapt to peaks with live sport
Traditional programmatic thinking prioritises consistency, but live sport does not work that way.
Due to audience size, delivery spikes during live sports, and brands can see planning budgets delivering out with weeks left to run. This is why programmatic strategies built around even, consistent delivery across the week struggle when targeting sport. But this isn’t a failure of programmatic – in fact, it’s the programmatic purpose: achieving maximum attention when it matters most.
On Kayo SPORTS, ad breaks are limited because higher ad frequency leads to ad fatigue and declining brand sentiment. Inventory is thus concentrated around quarter-time and half-time, while the fewer breaks mean bigger moments and fans get a more premium viewing experience.
While fewer ad breaks do mean fewer impressions per match, there’s far more people watching each one. Consider the 13 minutes of ads on Kayo SPORTS and Foxtel Go/Now versus 28.5 minutes on free-to-air during live sport. From a revenue and reach perspective, audience scale outweighs ad volume, viewer experience is more positive and brands achieve greater awareness.
At Foxtel, AFL and NRL are delivering growing ad inventory year on year. Between 2023 and 2025, Foxtel’s total ad inventory grew 630%. The scalability of streaming and smarter programmatic buying combined allows brands to maximise impact efficiently.
Why would brands want to limit their ability to reach more customers who are more likely to spend quicker and opt to slow down pacing in the traditional way? Yes, sometimes CPMs can be higher, but when higher attention is guaranteed with loyal, higher spending, paying subscribers, should CPMs matter?
In 2026, the smarter choice is to plan spend intentionally around live sport peaks instead of force flat delivery models.
Programmatic access has levelled the playing field
Until recently, access to live sport advertising was limited to major sponsors with seven-figure budgets. Thanks to the growth and scale of Kayo SPORTS via programmatic, advertisers of all sizes today can access live sport.
Kayo SPORTS formats like Fox Freeze pause ads are no longer niche or locked behind high minimum spends and have no barrier to entry. These are high-attention moments delivered through a static, uncluttered format that audiences accept, allowing brands to appear during natural pauses at key moments. While other platforms still restrict similar formats to premium buys, Foxtel Media has opened them up.
Not all streaming platforms play the same role
Another missed opportunity is treating various streaming platforms as “just another one”. Audiences across Foxtel platforms are largely distinct, with a 20% duplication of audiences between Kayo SPORTS and BINGE, and only around 7% duplication between BINGE and Foxtel. Each platform contributes incremental reach, and none should be treated as optional.
BINGE, in particular, is delivering strong, consistent audiences across the week, with the numbers still comparable to pre-HBO periods and playing a crucial always-on role alongside the peaks of live sport.
What this means for 2026 planning
If 2025 was the year brands leaned into the streaming platforms, 2026 needs to be the year they evolve how they buy it. Streaming is now the main way of viewing, where the majority of the reached audience engage for the duration of the ad, and budgets should reflect that reality.
If brands continue to look to even pace sports, they’re missing audiences that drive outcomes. If platforms are bundled, unique reach will be missed. If only one ad format is in the plan, there’s more room for creativity and innovation.
The brands that get this right will not just reach audiences - they will show up when attention is at its highest, and that is where streaming now truly earns its value.
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