Nearly half of all streaming subscriptions are now supported by ads

When streaming services like Netflix and Disney+ first launched, their ad-free nature was part of the appeal. A shifting media landscape led both of those services to add on ad-supported tiers in 2022, and adoption of those subscriptions has skyrocketed since. A report from market data firm Antenna found that 43% of all streaming subscriptions are now supported by ads.

That number comes from the third quarter of 2024, when the percentage of ad-supported subs went up for the fifth quarter in a row. In Q3 2022, 28% of streaming subscribers opted to turn on ads. Two years later, that figure has jumped by 15%.

Netflix and Disney+ account for a significant portion of that growth. Though advertisers were initially skeptical about Netflix’s move into ad-supported content, viewers embraced the experimental tier. The streamer’s crackdown on password sharing gave some subscribers an additional push toward the new product. As of November 2024, Netflix with Ads is up to 70 million monthly active users. That’s an increase of more than 100% from the start of the year.

Disney+ hasn’t been as public about its ad-supported gains, but a hot mic moment from Disney CEO Bob Iger 

told observers everything they need to know. During the Mouse House’s Q3 2024 earnings call, Iger revealed that “60 percent of all new subs are buying our streaming services’ advertising-supported [options].” He later claimed that he was not supposed to reveal that statistic, even if it showed that Disney is keeping up with the Joneses in the streaming world.

Free, ad-supported TV (FAST) services are growing as well. Companies like Roku and Tubi are loving life in the FAST lane, where affordable prices are attracting millions of viewers.

That last sentence offers the clearest explanation for the uptick Antenna measured. In times of economic hardship, consumers look to scrimp on their streaming budgets. At that point, watching a few ads in exchange for a few dollars of savings per month feels like a fair trade. There are still some kinks that need to be worked out on ad-supported streaming tiers, but the demand is clearly there, and industry leaders are taking notice.