Paid, Ad-Supported Streaming Subscriptions Reportedly Surpass Ad-Free Signups in November
For the first time, ad-supported streaming plans attracted more customers in a month than ad-free plans did in Nov. 2023.
Was 2023 the year of the ad-supported plan? That’s certainly up for debate, but a new report from Antenna indicates that November 2023 was a big month for ad-supported tiers of subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) platforms like Disney+, Peacock, and Netflix.
- Antenna measured 11.2M ad-supported sign-ups for seven SVOD services in November 2023.
- That number is a new record and accounted for 51% of total streaming subscriptions in the month.
- It marks the first time Antenna has recorded ad-supported signups outpacing ad-free subscriptions in a given month.
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According to Antenna, November 2023 was the first time since it began tracking streaming subscriptions that ad-supported signups outnumbered ad-free ones. Altogether, Antenna tracked 11.2 million ad-supported streaming subscriptions during the month, which accounted for 51% of all subscriptions to the following seven streaming services: discovery+, Disney+, Hulu, Max, Netflix, Paramount+, and Peacock.
Antenna’s report notes that many of these streaming platforms offered Black Friday deals that included substantial discounts on their ad-supported plans. Hulu, for example, offered its ad-supported plan for $0.99 per month for an entire year on Black Friday, and Peacock made its ads plan available for $1.99 monthly for 12 months. These two streamers alone accounted for almost 30% of ad-supported streaming signups in November.
The milestone is also an indication that there are more ad-supported streaming tiers available than there have been in the past. Disney+ did not launch its ads plan until December 2022, for example, and Netflix introduced its own just one month earlier. New subscriptions to ad-supported streaming plans will likely continue outpacing ad-free signups in at least some months of 2024, as Prime Video is set to convert its current streaming plan to ad-supported and roll out a new ad-free tier on Jan. 29.
Will Ad-Free Streaming Plans Disappear?
Despite the rush of customers to save money by picking ad-supported plans, we at The Streamable don’t anticipate the discontinuance of ad-free tiers any time soon. The price of such plans will likely rise faster than their ad-supported counterparts, however, because streaming plans that include commercials capture markedly more revenue per user than plans with no ads do.
Previous data released by Antenna shows that most streaming customers nowadays are so-called “ad managers,” customers who choose to stream with ads some of the time but also go ad-free in some cases. Audiences clearly still value the ability to pick ad-free streaming options, even if they don’t choose that option every time.
The promise of cheap, ad-free streaming forever has gone glimmering as the streaming market has matured over the years, but streaming platforms usually still offer substantially fewer ads than traditional TV does. That’s a big reason why customers have accepted the compromise of streaming on SVOD services with ads, and why 51% of all streaming signups in the month of November were for ad-supported SVOD plans.
Peacock
Peacock is a subscription video streaming service from NBCUniversal that includes original shows, blockbuster movies, and classic television series. Peacock is home to “Yellowstone,” and “The Office,” as well as original hits like “Poker Face” and “Bel-Air.” You can also watch live sports including NFL, MLB, WWE, Olympics, Premier League, NASCAR, French Open, College Football and Basketball, and PGA Tour. Premium Plus subscribers can stream their local NBC feed in all 210 markets.