- Amazon Prime Video and Netflix dominate the German SVOD market (JustWatch), yet the ARD media library leads the overall ranking by usage hours, with over 1.23 billion streamed hours in 2025 (AGF).
- Local and public broadcasting providers hold strong market positions: the ARD and ZDF media libraries together account for over two billion streamed hours and seriously compete with international giants for the everyday relevance of German viewers.
- Sport is the decisive subscription driver: according to Kantar, every fourth new streaming subscription in Germany is triggered by sports content, a factor that shapes the strategies of Amazon, DAZN, WOW and MagentaTV alike.
- FAST platforms gain ground: rising subscription prices push more and more users towards free, ad-financed offerings. 37% of German streamers use exclusively free content in 2025 (Bitkom).
The turning point has been reached
2025 marks a break: for the first time, more Germans use streaming services (87%) than linear television (86%), according to the Bitkom report Future of Consumer Technology 2025. What sounds like a narrow majority is in reality the result of a multi-year, fundamental shift in media consumption. Streaming has long ceased to be an add-on in Germany. It is the new campfire.
The big ones: Amazon, Netflix and Disney+
Amazon Prime Video is the most chosen SVOD service in Germany. With a market share of around 26% (JustWatch) and a decisive advantage: the streaming offering is part of the broad Amazon Prime membership, which is already active in almost half of all German households. Of these, around 72% actively use Prime Video, one of the highest activation rates in Europe (Kantar). Amazon invests massively in sports rights (Champions League, NFL) and prestige originals, and with the introduction of an ad-financed standard tier at the end of 2024 it revitalized the German CTV advertising market.
Netflix follows with around 25% market share and about 13.2 million subscribers in Germany (DemandSage 2025). What makes Netflix special: the combination of global prestige productions and a serious local content strategy. Series like Dark, Barbarians or Der Greif have shown that German-language originals not only work in the home market but scale worldwide. On top of that: among all streaming providers, Netflix achieves the highest satisfaction ratings with German subscribers (Kantar), a quality signal that holds even in a more difficult price environment.
Disney+ has developed into the third major force since its Germany launch in 2020. Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar and the adult Star label (The Bear, Shogun) form a broad content foundation. According to Parrot Analytics, demand intensity for Disney+ originals in Germany is above average, especially for franchise content. The platform records stable market shares in the JustWatch ranking, which is remarkable given the competitive pressure.
The local champions: ARD, ZDF, RTL+ and Joyn
Anyone who thinks Netflix and Amazon have Germany firmly in their grip will be surprised by the AGF figures for 2025. Measured by usage hours, the ARD media library is the most used streaming service in Germany: 1.23 billion streamed hours in 2025. The ZDF media library follows with around one billion hours. Both are free and ad-free, an advantage not to be underestimated in times of growing subscription price fatigue.
RTL+ and Joyn round out the local offering and score particularly with young audiences. Among 14 to 49 year olds, RTL+ is even number one of all German streaming services (AGF). Both platforms rely on a mix of reality, sport, live TV and growing in-house productions.
The challengers: WOW, Paramount+, Apple TV+ and DAZN
Away from the top providers, specialized services fight for clear niches. WOW (formerly Sky Ticket) scores with sports rights and thereby reaches a loyal, willing-to-pay core audience. HBO Max, the newest player in the market, takes over the distribution of HBO series that were formerly exclusive to SKY. Paramount+ benefits particularly strongly in Germany from the Star Trek fan community and recorded the strongest percentage growth of all platforms in the JustWatch ranking in Q2 2025 (+1.7 percentage points). Apple TV+ consistently relies on a few, high-budget originals (Severance, Slow Horses, Silo) and likewise gained market share in the same period. Incidentally, Apple TV+ is the only streaming subscription without an ad tier. DAZN, finally, is hard to avoid for sports-minded audiences, with the Bundesliga, Champions League and a broad repertoire of combat sports, tennis and basketball.
Conclusion: diversity instead of duopoly
The German streaming ecosystem of 2025 cannot be reduced to a simple picture. ARD and ZDF lead the ranking by usage hours because they are free and strong in quality. Amazon and Netflix dominate with paying subscriptions. RTL+ beats them all with young audiences. WOW, Apple TV+, Paramount+ and DAZN secure their niches.