🥇 Is YouTube Becoming the World’s Biggest Streaming Platform?

How ads and subscriptions turned YouTube into a streaming giant | Streaming in Short - W06

Yann Colleter

Feb 06, 2026

⏱️ This week’s streaming news in MENA and around the world, in 5 min.

🇺🇸 YouTube passed $60B in yearly revenue

👉 YouTube made more than $60 billion in revenue in 2025, from advertising and subscriptions combined.

📍 The platform reached 325 million paid subscriptions in Q4, including YouTube Premium and Google One. Advertising revenue alone hit $11.4 billion in Q4, showing steady growth year over year.

💡 YouTube now works like a global streaming giant, mixing ads and subscriptions at massive scale, and has become one of the strongest growth drivers for Alphabet.

🇫🇷 CANAL+ is building a global streaming power quietly

👉 While big U.S. streamers focus on mergers and cost cuts, CANAL+ is expanding step by step across Europe and Africa.

📍 CANAL+ secured new HBO Max distribution deals in Belgium and Austria and completed its $3B acquisition of MultiChoice. This gives CANAL+ access to 40 million subscribers across 70 countries.

💡 CANAL+ strategy is simple: own local distribution, invest in local content, and control the customer relationship.

This Ramadan, Ipsos is preparing a dedicated guide to explain why viewing habits change during the holy month in UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

The report will help streaming platforms understand audience behavior, validate content strategies, and maximize impact during the most important viewing period of the year.

What insights will you get?

When and how people watch during Ramadan
What drives subscriptions and churn
How audiences react to advertising
Whether microdramas are gaining traction
Ramadan-specific viewer personas

Interested in the Ramadan 2026 Streaming Handbook? Get in touch to receive full details on the scope, timeline, and pricing👇

Get the full report details

🇨🇦 A Netflix–WBD deal could hit Canada and MENA

What happened?

👉 The potential acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery by Netflix could reshape local streaming markets in both Canada and MENA.

Key details:

In Canada, Crave (owned by Bell Media) depends heavily on HBO content licensed from WBD.
In MENA, OSN+ faces a similar risk, as Netflix could eventually pull HBO and Warner Bros. titles and reconsider WBD’s minority stake.

Why it matters?

🎯 Local platforms in both regions may need to rely less on studio licensing and more on scale, bundling, and local content to stay competitive against global giants.

📺 Smart TVs: OSNtv is now built into Samsung Smart TVs

Samsung and OSN have launched OSNtv directly on Samsung Smart TVs across MENA, with no box needed.

Viewers can watch live channels and on-demand content straight from their TV, making it easier to access OSN without extra devices.

⚽️ SPORTS: TOD adds MultiView and FanZone

TOD has launched 2 new features to make live sports more interactive across MENA.

MultiView lets fans watch several live matches on one screen, while FanZone adds live polls, predictions, and quizzes during games, helping TOD move beyond passive sports viewing.

📱 SHORTS: Paramount+ moves into short-form video

Paramount+ is preparing a major short-form video push, inspired by TikTok and YouTube Shorts.

The plan would add large volumes of short clips to the app to boost mobile usage and attract younger audiences, following similar moves from Disney+ and Netflix.

📱 SHORTS: Watch Club launches a social microdrama app

Former Facebook executive Henry Soong has launched Watch Club, a new microdrama and social platform backed by Google Ventures.

The app targets young audiences with short drama series designed to spark discussion, reactions, and community features around each show.

📺 CREATORS: A YouTube format airs on French TV

Joyca’s YouTube series Joyca teste des lieux 1 étoile has aired in prime time on RMC Découverte, marking a first for French television.

The episode was shown on TV before being released on YouTube, showing how creator formats are now moving from digital-first to hybrid TV and online distribution.

🇸🇦 RIYADH: Local content is getter better

At the Saudi Media Forum, executives from MBC Group and Starzplay explained how global streaming platforms are raising the bar for local content.

They shared how competition from Netflix, Korean dramas, and Chinese short-form content is pushing Arabic drama to become more professional, more ambitious, and more data-driven, helping local platforms improve storytelling and better connect with audiences.

🇦🇪 DUBAI: Short-form storytelling takes the spotlight

The Content Market Webinars by DICM will host a session titled From Minutes to Moments: The Power of Short-Form Storytelling on February 11.

The webinar will feature Belal El Araby, who will share insights on micro-drama and short-form formats, drawing from his experience across films, series, and digital-first storytelling in MENA.

⛷️ The Winter Olympics (Feb 6-22): Watch the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 from the opening ceremony to breathtaking sport and celebrations of athletes from around the world.

🏔️ 70 years ago, the Winter Olympics were broadcast on TV for the first time. In 1956, the Winter Olympics took place in Cortina d’Ampezzo, becoming the first Winter Games to be televised. For the first time, audiences across Europe could watch winter sports live from their homes, marking a turning point in how global sporting events reached fans and setting the foundation for the media-driven Olympics we know today.