Survey: 56% of New Gross Streaming Subscriptions Are for Ad Plans; Peacock Leads All Streamers in Ad-Supported Signups
New data from Antenna shows that Disney+ continues to outperform Netflix in terms of attracting new customers to its ad tier.
On-demand streaming plans supported by ads used to be an industry exception rather than the rule. For years, it was only Hulu that offered a plan with ads, before new entrants to the market like Max (called HBO Max at launch), Paramount+, and Peacock decided to roll out with ad plans as a cheaper alternative to ad-free streaming. Nowadays, almost every American-based streaming service has an ad-supported tier, and new research from Antenna shows which services are having the most success in attracting new viewers to those plans.
Key Details:
- In the first quarter of 2024, 56% of gross streaming sign-ups were for ad-supported plans.
- Peacock sees nearly 80% of new customers opt for its ad tier.
- Disney sees customers to both of its entertainment streamers opt for ad-supported plans at a rate of more than 50%.
Antenna’s newest data set is a follow-up to numbers released following the fourth quarter of 2023. During that time, the firm measured that 51% of gross streaming subscriptions were for ad-supported plans, the first time that ad tiers were outperforming ad-free ones in the number of customers who chose them.
Its latest update indicates that the percentage of customers opting for ad-supported plans continues to rise. This is almost certainly a reaction to the rise in the price of ad-free streaming; a report from last August found that ad-free streaming costs had risen 25% in 2023 alone. Disney+, Hulu, and Max were all services that opted to raise prices on ad-free plans in 2023, while leaving ad-supported plans untouched.
The data from Antenna shows that 56% of all gross streaming subscriptions during the first quarter of 2024 were for ad-supported plans, a jump of five percentage points from the prior quarter. Viewers are continuing to embrace ad plans faster than they have during the streaming era of entertainment.
Which Streamers Have the Most Customers on Ad Plans?
Antenna’s data does not break out how many customers are on ad plans versus ad-free on the streamers it measures. Often this data is kept as proprietary information by the companies that own the services, but Antenna has been able to measure how many new customers opt for ad plans on various streamers.
By far, Peacock leads the way among new ad-supported signups. Antenna measured that during the first quarter of 2024, 79% of new subscriptions to Peacock were for its ad-supported plan. Many of those subscriptions were likely driven by Peacock’s exclusive presentation of an NFL Wild Card game in January, and Antenna measured in March that 78% of viewers who signed up to watch the game between the eventual Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins were still subscribed one month later.
Disney’s streaming services are also performing well in terms of ad-supported subscribers. During the first quarter, 62% of new Hulu customers chose the ad-supported plan of the company’s general entertainment streamer, and 58% of new Disney+ subscribers did likewise. The numbers are quite close together, which supports the recent assertion by Disney CEO Bob Iger that around half of new Hulu customers sign up for Disney+ at the same time. The data also could be a reflection of the fact that the official one-app experience featuring Hulu content on Disney+ rolled out during the first quarter.
The numbers show that Netflix is still trailing Disney in terms of signups to their respective ad plans. Disney+ launched an ad-supported tier one month after Netflix did in late 2022, and as of August 2023, data indicated that Disney’s service saw new customers opting for its ad plan at double the rate of Netflix. Recent estimates have put the total number of customers using ad-supported Netflix as high as 20 million customers worldwide, but Antenna’s numbers clearly show that Disney+ is still outperforming Netflix’s ad plan.
Ad-supported streaming has officially arrived and is likely to become more common as streamers continue to prioritize profits and make ad-free streaming as expensive as possible. As streamers and TV executives gather to pitch advertisers at upfront presentations, it’s likely that some will reference their ad-supported subscription numbers in order to encourage agencies to increase their next streaming ad buys.
Disney+
Disney+ is a video streaming service with over 13,000 series and films from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, The Muppets, and more. It is available in 61 countries and 21 languages. It is notable for its popular original series like “The Mandalorian,” “Ms. Marvel,” “Loki,” “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” and “Andor.”