As the attention economy continues to accelerate through 2026, streamers are jumping into bed with their competitors’ short-form strategies in a bid to increase younger audience engagement and slash churn. In what it claims is an industry-first, NBCUniversal’s Peacock is boasting AI-powered mobile features as it continues to spotlight its vertical shorts feature for mobile app users. Arguably the most controversial feature will see Peacock introduce AI-powered vertical video feeds for full live sports games later this year, which will launch in beta for the National Basketball League (NBA). Sports purists will not like this one bit, but beggars can’t be choosers. AI will be used to follow the key on-screen action, such as where the basketball is, in real-time, while…