This Streaming Comeback Might Deserve a Standing Ovation

Author

Noah Zelvis
September 23, 2025

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Fresh momentum, better margins, and bold bets on AI have this streaming sleeper building buzz again.

If it sticks the landing, we could be watching the pilot of a multi-year run.

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Apps

Google Play Just Got Personal, and Yes, It’s All About You

Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) just gave the Play Store a makeover, and this time it feels like it’s designed around you instead of the endless scroll.

Think AI search that understands goals, a new Apps tab with curated spaces, and a shiny You tab that turns the store into your personal hub.

Guided Search is the star, letting you type “find a home” instead of “Zillow” and still land on the right apps.

It’s less typing, more discovering, and way closer to how you actually think.

Your Store, Your Space

The new Apps tab now highlights content tailored to what you care about, whether that’s the WNBA, comics, or short-form drama.

Seasonal picks and curated spaces mean you’re not just browsing apps, you’re browsing culture.

And the new You tab is where it really clicks — subscriptions, rewards, podcasts, shows, and even a gamer profile with a Gen AI avatar all live here.

It’s basically your command center for everything Play.

Gaming Gets a Sidekick

Gamers now get a central tab for leagues, stats, and rewards, starting with Subway Surfers tournaments in October.

Plus, the new AI Sidekick sits inside your games, ready to drop tips powered by Gemini Live.

If Google lands the opening of the Play Store, it won’t feel like maintenance anymore. It’ll feel like logging into a version of the internet built just for you.

Commerce

eBay Buys Tise to Woo Gen Z With Social Shopping Vibes

eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) is diving deeper into Gen Z’s closet with the acquisition of Tise, a social marketplace built for secondhand fashion and home finds.

The Oslo-based platform mixes resale with social features like likes, comments, and follows, making it feel less like a flea market and more like Instagram with shopping bags.

The deal builds on eBay’s earlier investment in Tise back in 2022.

Now, the company says it wants to modernize resale, tighten its grip on sustainable retail, and prove it still has cultural relevance with younger shoppers.

Turning Thrift Into a Feed

Tise thrives on social-first design, allowing buyers and sellers to connect as if they’re hanging out online.

Personalized recs and on-trend inventory keep it sticky, while the community feel makes resale more fun than transactional.

For eBay, this is about catching up to how Gen Z shops — through vibes, not just categories.

It’s secondhand shopping that feels like scrolling your For You Page.

The Next Generation of eBay

Once the deal closes later this year, eBay plans to fold Tise’s tools into its own C2C marketplace.

That means more social hooks, fresher inventory, and a friendlier face for the platform.

If eBay pulls it off, thrifting won’t just feel sustainable, it’ll feel social. And that could be the makeover eBay has been waiting for.

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Gaming

Controllers Stay Cheap, Consoles Don’t: Xbox Prices Going Up

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is raising Xbox console prices in the U.S. this October, citing “changes in the macroeconomic environment.”

Accessories, such as controllers and headsets, won’t see an increase, and prices abroad remain the same.

It’s the second hike this year, and while Microsoft avoided pointing fingers, tariffs are the not-so-hidden culprit.

Gamers will now feel the squeeze at checkout just as holiday shopping heats up.

Tariffs, Tensions, and Wallet Pain

Consoles usually drop in price over time, not climb. So if you were waiting for the perfect moment to grab a Series X or S, this curveball might sting.

Microsoft insists the move was “carefully considered,” but that’s cold comfort. It’s basically saying, pay more now or hold out even longer.

Gaming Gets a Price Glitch

For once, picking up a new controller feels like a better deal than buying the system itself.

The whole console aisle is caught in tariff turbulence, and Microsoft is just the latest to fold.

So when you do upgrade, remember the only thing that leveled up here was the price tag.

Poll: If every purchase you made was public, how would you feel?

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Recent Tech Movers

Autodesk (NASDAQ: ADSK) Autodesk is redrawing the lines with a fresh pricing model for its AI-powered Platform Services APIs.

UBS just reiterated a Buy rating and a $385 target, pointing to the company’s monetization roadmap for AI automations and agents.

The new usage-based structure kicks in later this year, charging customers only after they cross certain thresholds, thresholds that just happen to line up with heavy AI use cases.

Oh, and don’t forget the partnerships. The Kraft Group (yep, the Patriots' owners) just signed on to use Autodesk’s cloud to revamp Gillette Stadium.

That’s a pretty big stadium-sized vote of confidence.

Tradeweb Markets (NASDAQ: TW) Despite a sluggish year-to-date chart, analysts haven’t lost the plot on Tradeweb.

Rothschild’s Simon Clinch recently slapped a $129 price target on it, joining a chorus of others calling for a rebound.

Hedge funds like T. Rowe and TD Asset Management are loading up, while insiders quietly trimmed positions.

As electronic trading platforms become more critical in volatile bond markets, TW could quietly ride the structural shift, just don’t expect fireworks overnight.

Spotify (NYSE: SPOT) Spotify keeps spinning the hits, literally and financially. The stock is up more than 60% this year, and it’s winning the long game over rivals like SiriusXM.

With 276 million premium subscribers (and growing), Spotify is scaling with speed, while Sirius is shrinking.

The platform’s ad-supported base still dominates in user count, but paid subs bring in most of the revenue.

If this growth rhythm keeps up, analysts think Spotify’s current valuation may not be so far-fetched, even at 163x earnings.

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Rewriting the Streaming Script

Roku (NASDAQ: ROKU) Roku is quietly making a push to take back control of its narrative. Benchmark just reiterated its Buy rating and $130 target after upbeat talks with management at the TMT conference.

The company’s platform revenue is accelerating, helped by organic growth and new partnership deals.

Nielsen’s latest data shows Roku now accounts for 21.4% of U.S. TV viewing time, beating traditional broadcast.

There’s even more optimism bubbling: JMP bumped its price target to $145, and Jefferies flagged Roku’s expanding AI initiatives as a potential driver of operating leverage.

Every engineer at Roku is now using AI tools to sharpen everything from ad targeting to platform UX.

Still, valuation is a sticking point for some. Roku trades at a sky-high forward P/E and PEG, which may give conservative investors pause.

But if it keeps growing its share of living room eyeballs and delivers on monetization, Roku could evolve from streaming underdog to multi-year compounder.

The key is that management needs to take control of the narrative, as Benchmark put it, maybe not with flashy headlines, but with consistent execution and free cash flow wins.

Everything Else

  • 💸 Nvidia is reportedly preparing to invest $100 billion to deepen its partnership with OpenAI. Yes, billion with a “B.”

  • 📱 Trump will sign an executive order affirming the TikTok deal complies with new 2024 national security rules.

  • 📈 Apple’s stock finally turned green for the year after a strong iPhone 17 launch sparked fresh investor optimism.

  • 🔌 Shares of Apple supplier Luxshare popped 10% after a report linked it to OpenAI’s hardware ambitions.

  • 🔁 Oracle announced a leadership shift, appointing two new co-CEOs to share the top job moving forward.

That's our coverage for today; thanks for reading! Reply to this email with feedback or any tech stocks you want me to check out.

Best Regards,
—Noah Zelvis
Tech Stock Insider