Analysis: 76% of Peacock Customers Use Ad-Supported Tier, Only 21% on HBO Max

Ad-supported streaming is very much the latest craze in the streaming industry. Big-name streamers like Netflix and Disney+ both brought their new ad-supported plans to market this fall, and one recent report predicted that every major service will have a lower-priced tier with ads by the end of 2023.

A recent report from industry research firm Antenna shows which services are seeing customers signup for ad-supported tiers more frequently. The survey found that Peacock is by far the industry leader when it comes to ad-viewing users, with 76% of its total U.S. subscriber base on an ad-supported plan.

The dataset doesn’t distinguish how it categorizes Peacock users who have the ad-supported Premium subscription as part of their Comcast Xfinity internet or cable service. Still, it is the largest proportion of ad-supported versus ad-free users on a platform by a wide margin. The next-highest percentage of ad-watching users on any service is Hulu, where 57% of customers are signed up for the ad-supported plan.

One factor that may help Peacock transition more customers to its $9.99 per month ad-free Premium Plus tier is the addition of live streams of local NBC stations around the U.S. Paramount+ offers users a similar choice, in that its highest-priced tier offers live feeds of local CBS stations. That division of features has helped raise the number of users on Paramount+’s Premium tier to 56%, up from the 33% that were signed up for the option in 2019, when it was still known as CBS All Access.

Another factor that will could help Peacock bring in more Premium Plus-level users is its plan to stop offering Xfinity customers a free Peacock subscription. This will undoubtedly cause some to leave the service for good, but it will also likely bring new subscribers to the ad-free tier when they decide they might as well go all the way if they’re going to have to pay to keep the Peacock programming anyway.

Antenna’s analysis shows that services that launched from day one with an ad-supported tier (or, in Hulu’s case, launched ad-free, but introduced an ad-supported option many years ago) have much higher share of subscribers selecting the ad-supported option. Users who have grown accustomed to seeing content without ads are more likely to stick with that arrangement. That explains why HBO Max, which offers an ad-supported tier for $5 less than its ad-free option, still sees 79% of its users opt to watch without ads.

The HBO Max numbers are even more surprising when its’ ad-supported customers report being pleased with their service. A whopping 92% of HBO Max with ads subscribers claim they are “satisfied” with their service, although that number may decrease once HBO Max carries out a recently announced plan to put ads within HBO originals. Previously, HBO originals came ad-free on both price tiers of the service.

Ad-supported streaming is considered the next logical evolution of the industry, and it’s easy to see why. Services that offer both ad-free and ad-supported price plans see better customer retention rates, and drive more new sign-ups as well. Thanks to Antenna’s newly released research, there is now more insight into which services are drawing more customers to their ad-supported tiers and why.