Q3 Streaming Scorecard: Netflix Still Leads, but Apple TV Is the One Surging

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2026

The third quarter is in the books, and the streaming wars have a new shape. Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video still sit atop JustWatch’s latest US market-share report — 19% and 17% respectively — but the energy in the numbers is all in the middle of the pack. Hulu just posted the strongest quarterly surge of any major service. Apple TV’s year-long climb has made it a genuine top-four player. And Paramount+ is sliding in the wrong direction fast. Here’s what the Q3 2026 scorecard actually says.

The report, published this week by the streaming guide JustWatch, measures shifts in streaming interest and engagement across more than 320 subscription video services in the United States, drawn from over 45 million interactions on its app and website between July and September. One important caveat before the numbers: this is a measure of interest — what people are searching for, browsing, and engaging with — not subscriber counts or hours watched. It’s a momentum read, not a census. And as a momentum read, it’s a fascinating one.

02 The top of the table isn’t moving — it’s eroding

Netflix at 19% and Prime Video at 17% remain first and second, positions they’ve held for years. But look at the direction of travel. Netflix slipped a point quarter-over-quarter (it’s flat year-over-year), and Prime Video is down 3 points from where it sat in Q3 2025. Disney+ rounds out the old guard at 14%, down a point on the quarter and flat on the year.

Nobody is dethroning Netflix tomorrow. But the combined share of the top three has been quietly leaking for a year, and the beneficiaries are sitting right below them. For context on what Netflix is actually doing to hold its lead, see its aggressive renewal pace and its push into interactive horror this month.

03 Apple TV: the year’s biggest winner

Apple TV held steady at 13% this quarter — tied with Hulu for fourth — but the year-over-year number is the eye-popper: up 5 percentage points since Q3 2025, the strongest annual gain of any service in the report. A year ago Apple was a mid-table curiosity; today it’s within a point of Disney+.

The climb has been steady rather than sudden. JustWatch’s Q1 2026 report had Apple TV at 12%, already tied for fourth with HBO Max at the time. The service has essentially spent 2026 converting prestige buzz into sustained interest, quarter after quarter, without a single explosive breakout. In a business that usually rewards spikes, Apple’s slow-burn ascent — five points in twelve months — is the most structurally interesting trend in the data.

04 Hulu: the quarter’s momentum play

If Apple TV won the year, Hulu won the quarter. The service climbed 2 points to 13% — the biggest quarterly gain in the report — and it’s also up 2 points year-over-year, the only major service growing meaningfully on both timeframes at once. That double-momentum put it level with Apple TV and one point behind Disney+.

Hulu’s surge is a reminder that in streaming, library depth plus next-day broadcast still moves the needle. The service’s fall slate — including the returning All’s Fair season 2 rollout — lands squarely in the kind of appointment viewing that drives guide-app engagement, which is exactly what this survey measures.

05 The slide: Paramount+ has a problem

The grimmest line in the report belongs to Paramount+, down to 3% — off 3 points from a year ago, the steepest annual decline of any service surveyed. Flat on the quarter, which means the bleeding has at least paused, but a full third of its year-ago share is gone. For a service fighting for relevance in a consolidating market, that’s a red flag, not a blip.

Elsewhere in the lower table: HBO Max climbed a point on the quarter to 11% but remains 2 points below its Q3 2025 share — a recovery in progress, not a recovery completed. Peacock Premium is the quiet success story, holding at 4% on the quarter after doubling its share year-over-year from roughly 2%. PBS (2%) and Starz (1%) are steady as ever, and the long tail of “other” services slipped to 3%, down a point on the quarter and 3 on the year — consolidation’s fingerprints.

06 What to watch in Q4

Three storylines to carry into the holiday quarter. First: can Apple TV convert a year of gains into an actual top-three challenge, or does 13% become its ceiling? Second: is Hulu’s +2 a one-quarter pop or the start of a run — and does it come at Disney+’s expense, given the bundle math between them? Third: does Paramount+ stabilize at 3%, or is there another leg down?

The through-line of Q3 is that the streaming market’s center of gravity is drifting downward on the table. The top two aren’t collapsing, but they’re no longer absorbing all the growth — it’s accruing to the services in slots four through seven. In a mature market, that’s what a changing of the guard looks like in slow motion.

Netflix 19% (−1pp QoQ, flat YoY) · Prime Video 17% (flat QoQ, −3pp YoY) · Disney+ 14% (−1pp QoQ, flat YoY). Apple TV 13% (flat QoQ, +5pp YoY — strongest annual gain) · Hulu 13% (+2pp QoQ, +2pp YoY — strongest quarterly gain). HBO Max 11% (+1pp QoQ, −2pp YoY) · Peacock Premium 4% (flat QoQ, +2pp YoY — doubled in a year). Paramount+ 3% (flat QoQ, −3pp YoY — steepest annual decline in the report). Growth is accruing to services ranked 4th–7th while the top three leak share — a slow-motion changing of the guard.