In response to a first programmatic request, metadata indicating that a first isolated read channel of a real-time category has been associated with a first target stream is stored at a stream management service. In response to another request, metadata indicating that a second isolated read channel of a non-real-time category has been associated with a second target stream is stored. In response to a read request indicating the first channel or the second channel, one or more data records of the corresponding target streams are provided.