The five charts that accompany this piece trace how streaming audiences have settled into new patterns following the mid-tier consolidation cycle of the past two years. The patterns produce a clearer picture of where the form is going than the headline subscriber figures provide on their own.

Chart one

The first chart shows monthly active users across the surviving major services. The pattern is one of stable user bases at each service, with the cross-service overlap (users with multiple subscriptions) higher than at any prior point.

Chart two

The second chart shows the watching-time distribution across services. The distribution is more even across services than the subscriber-count data alone implies; users with multiple services tend to use them at meaningfully different intensities.

Chart three

The third chart shows the content-investment patterns across services. The big-budget original-programming investments are concentrated in a smaller number of services; the secondary services have shifted toward licensed content and more modest original programmes.

Chart four

The fourth chart maps the international subscriber bases. Several major American services now have international subscriber counts that exceed their domestic numbers; the international growth is the principal source of subscriber expansion.

Chart five

The fifth chart layers in the advertising-tier data. The shift toward ad-supported tiers across most services has been more substantial than the public commentary has captured; the advertising revenue is now the fastest-growing component of streaming-service revenue.

What the charts together show

What the charts together show is that streaming has settled into a configuration that resembles, in important respects, the late-stage cable television industry. The configuration will continue to evolve; the basic shape is now clearer than at any prior point in the form's history.