Netflix revealed that the platform’s ad-supported tier has attracted nearly 5 million monthly active users worldwide six months after its initial launch. The streaming giant announced the numbers during its 2023 Upfront presentation on Wednesday, adding that its ad-level subscribers have “more than doubled” since the beginning of this year, with a median age of 34 users.
As reported by The Hollywood ReporterNetflix co-CEO Greg Peters said during the presentation that more than 25 percent of new signups select the ad-supported tier in countries where it’s available. Peters also claimed that viewer engagement at ad-supported levels mirrors the engagement levels seen in ad-free Netflix accounts.
Netflix has yet to disclose how many active subscribers its ad tier has
“The signs are promising: engagement on our advertising plan is comparable to our comparable non-advertising plans,” Peters said during the presentation. “That is crucial, because it all starts and ends with the consumer. That is why, despite all the competition, Netflix is the most popular streaming service today.”
Known for being skittish about sharing viewership data with anyone, Netflix is now drawing attention to its viewership as it tries to grow its new advertising business. Earlier this year, the company announced it was expanding its relationship with Nielsen, a research firm that measures television and streaming viewership, to better understand audience behavior. “We treat our ads with the same care as we treat our incredible content,” said Jeremi Gorman, Netflix’s president of global advertising. “Serve them locally, switch seamlessly between shows and ads with no latency, and implement industry-leading frequency capping with an ad load of four to five minutes per hour.”
Warner Bros. Discovery made similar claims about its Max streaming service at the company’s own Upfront event on Wednesday. “Max Ad-Lite subscribers get the same content as ad-free subscribers,” said David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery. “See just three or four minutes of ads per hour and pay just $9.99 per month.”
We should keep in mind that monthly active users don’t equate to actual subscriber numbers, and Netflix has been tight-lipped about how many subscribers the ad tier actually has. The figure was last estimated at around 1 million in March after what was believed to be a slow start to the service. Those numbers may have improved since Netflix expanded its $6.99 a month base ad-supported plan in April, though it’ll be interesting to see how many monthly active users Netflix reports after it finally takes its crackdown on password sharing later this year. has implemented.
