Germany is the fastest growing large TV streaming market in Europe. While linear television and print lose budgets, advertising money is migrating into streaming at record pace. For agencies and marketers who today mainly sell search, social, print or digital space, a new business field thereby emerges right on their doorstep.
Key takeaways
- Germany is growing faster than any other large TV streaming market in Europe: 12% growth per year between 2020 and 2025, around 10 percentage points above the average of the five most mature European markets (BCG, 2026).
- The catch-up has only just begun: TV streaming reaches just 18% of German households, and by 2035 BCG expects between 42% and 58% depending on the scenario (BCG, 2026).
- The advertising budgets follow the viewers: streaming video advertising grows 18% in 2026 to 2.61 billion euros, while linear TV shrinks 4% to 3.12 billion euros (VAUNET spring forecast 2026).
- The demand comes from the market: 58% of German marketing decision makers want to expand their streaming TV budgets, more than for social video (55%) and significantly more than for classic TV (20%) (Comcast Advertising, Streaming TV Uncovered 2025).
The German streaming market is only just accelerating
A current analysis by the Boston Consulting Group describes Germany as one of the biggest market opportunities for TV streaming in all of Europe. The finding: Germany is Europe's largest TV market by households and at the same time the fastest growing large streaming market, with 12% annual growth between 2020 and 2025.
Yet the market is only at the beginning of its development. TV streaming currently reaches 18% of German households, while cable (36%) and satellite (43%) have been losing continuously for years. Mature European markets like France, Portugal or Switzerland are already at 56 to 69% streaming penetration. BCG therefore expects Germany to enter the acceleration phase of its S-curve now: in the base scenario, TV streaming reaches 42% of households by 2035, in the momentum scenario even 58%. An important catalyst was the end of the ancillary-cost privilege in July 2024. Millions of cable households had to actively decide on a TV reception route for the first time, and many decide on streaming.
The advertising budgets follow the viewers
What is even more relevant for agencies and marketers: the roughly 4-billion-euro German TV advertising market is shifting structurally. According to BCG, linear free TV is shrinking by around 4% per year, while digital video formats are growing from a smaller base at around 25% per year. CTV advertising spending in Germany is expected to increase ninefold by 2030 compared with 2022, to the equivalent of around 2.4 billion euros. Around 2032, CTV is likely to overtake linear TV in advertising spending, four years after the US, where this point is already expected in 2028.
The German industry forecasts paint the same picture. VAUNET expects a 18% increase in streaming video advertising to 2.61 billion euros for 2026, with simultaneously falling revenues in linear TV. The OVK forecasts that online video will generate more revenue than classic display advertising for the first time in 2026, at around 4.2 billion euros. And according to the Streaming TV Uncovered study by Comcast Advertising, 58% of German marketers want to increase their streaming TV budgets, the highest value of all surveyed European markets. As the most important reasons, they cite the quality of the advertising experience (54%) and the reach (52%).
The opportunity for agencies: TV becomes a digital channel
For SEA, social and video agencies this is good news, because CTV works according to the rules they have long mastered. Campaigns are targeted by audiences, regions and interests, reported in real time and continuously optimized. Anyone who manages Google Ads or Meta campaigns today already brings the complete toolkit for streaming TV. Only the environment is new: the biggest screen in the household, premium content and full attention instead of a scroll feed.
At the same time, genuine advisory demand emerges. Comcast identifies the fragmentation of platforms (42%) as the biggest hurdle for advertisers. This is exactly where the agency's role lies: guiding clients through the new ecosystem, sensibly interlocking CTV with search and social in the funnel and steering budgets to where attention emerges. The first agency to build CTV competence within its own client base positions itself in a growth market before it becomes a standard pitch topic.
The opportunity for marketers: expanding the portfolio with moving image
For marketers too, who today predominantly have print, out of home or digital space in their portfolio, a window is opening. The starting position is familiar: according to the Highberg Media Index 2026, the print advertising market is shrinking by a further good 5%, while video advertising grows by over 14%. The most valuable resource of these marketers remains unaffected: established client relationships with regional and mid-sized advertisers.
It is precisely these clients who are now discovering CTV for themselves. Streaming advertising has long ceased to be a pure corporate topic: regional targeting, flexible budgets and booking without an agency requirement make the channel attractive for mid-sized advertisers too. The demand is there, but many smaller advertisers lack access. Marketers who offer streaming TV as an additional product alongside the ad, poster or display not only defend their client relationship against migrating budgets, but open up a new, growing revenue source with the same sales team.
Participate instead of watch
Getting into CTV was long associated with high hurdles: minimum budgets, complex booking routes, in-house ad-tech infrastructure. Self-service platforms have removed these hurdles. Campaigns on premium streaming inventory like Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+ or RTL+ can today be planned and booked like a search or social campaign, including regional targeting and transparent reporting.
Agencies and marketers who want not only to observe the growth but to take part in it can thereby add CTV to their portfolio without their own infrastructure. How exactly this works and what conditions there are for partners is shown on our partner page.
Conclusion: a growth market that is still being distributed
Germany is currently undergoing the structural shift from linear television to streaming, faster than any other large European market and with plenty of room upwards. The advertising budgets follow this movement with double-digit growth rates, while classic categories like linear TV and print lose ground. BCG puts it in a nutshell: the question is no longer whether the transformation takes place, but who wins the migrating budgets. Agencies already bring the programmatic competence, marketers the client relationships. Both often lack only access to the inventory, and that is exactly what is easier today than ever.