40 Million People Subscribe to Netflix's Ad-Supported Tier

Netflix's ad-supported streaming tier has 40 million global monthly active users, up 35 million from a year ago, Netflix said today at its Upfront advertising presentation. Netflix has 270 million total subscribers worldwide, so the majority of its users are still on the ad-free tiers.

Netflix Smaller 4
Netflix resisted implementing an ad-supported tier for many years, but confirmed in 2022 that it had plans to implement a cheaper option in order to boost revenue. The Standard with ads plan launched in late 2022, and it has grown more popular as Netflix has increased the pricing of its ad-free tiers.

In the United States, the Standard with ads plan is priced at $6.99 per month for HD streaming on up to two devices at one time, with all but a "few movies and TV shows available." The basic ad-free plan is $15.49 per month, while the premium plan is $22.99 per month. Netflix's ad-supported plan does not include the option to download content for offline viewing, nor does it support spatial audio.

According to Netflix, more than 40 percent of all signups in the countries where the ad-supported plan is available are for the ads plan. More than 70 percent of Netflix's ad-supported members watch Netflix content for more than 10 hours per month, and Netflix says subscribers are twice as likely to respond to an ad compared to subscribers of other streaming services.

Since Netflix launched its ad-supported tier, it has partnered with Microsoft for ads, but in 2025, it will launch an in-house ad platform.

In addition to boosting revenue through a cheaper ad-supported option, Netflix has also cracked down on password sharing. After putting an end to multi-household account use, Netflix saw strong subscriber growth and an increase in revenue.

Tag: Netflix

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching in Three Months With These 12 New Features

Saturday June 14, 2025 5:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of June 2025:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X through iPhone 14 Pro have a...
iPadOS 26 App Windowing

Apple Explains Why iPads Don't Just Run macOS

Friday June 13, 2025 7:46 am PDT by
iPadOS 26 allows iPads to function much more like Macs, with a new app windowing system, a swipe-down menu bar at the top of the screen, and more. However, Apple has stopped short of allowing iPads to run macOS, and it has now explained why. In an interview this week with Swiss tech journalist Rafael Zeier, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi said that iPadOS 26's new Mac-like ...
iphone 16 pro models 1

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday June 12, 2025 8:58 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...
Logitech Logo Feature

Logitech Announces Two New Accessories for WWDC

Friday June 13, 2025 7:22 am PDT by
Alongside WWDC this week, Logitech announced notable new accessories for the iPad and Apple Vision Pro. The Logitech Muse is a spatially-tracked stylus developed for use with the Apple Vision Pro. Introduced during the WWDC 2025 keynote address, Muse is intended to support the next generation of spatial computing workflows enabled by visionOS 26. The device incorporates six degrees of...
iOS 26 Screens

Here Are All the iOS 26 Features That Require iPhone 15 Pro or Newer

Thursday June 12, 2025 4:53 am PDT by
With iOS 26, Apple has introduced some major changes to the iPhone experience, headlined by the new Liquid Glass redesign that's available across all compatible devices. However, several of the update's features are exclusive to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models, since they rely on Apple Intelligence. The following features are powered by on-device large language models and machine...
CarPlay Liquid Glass Dark

Apple to Let iPhone Users Watch Videos on CarPlay Screen While Parked

Thursday June 12, 2025 6:16 am PDT by
Apple this week announced that iPhone users will soon be able to watch videos right on the CarPlay screen in supported vehicles. iPhone users will be able to wirelessly stream videos to the CarPlay screen using AirPlay, according to Apple. For safety reasons, video playback will only be available when the vehicle is parked, to prevent distracted driving. The connected iPhone will be able to...
iOS 26 on Three iPhones

Hate iOS 26's Liquid Glass Design? Here's How to Tone It Down

Wednesday June 11, 2025 4:22 pm PDT by
iOS 26 features a whole new design material that Apple calls Liquid Glass, with a focus on transparency that lets the content on your display shine through the controls. If you're not a fan of the look, or are having trouble with readability, there is a step that you can take to make things more opaque without entirely losing out on the new look. Apple has multiple Accessibility options that ...
Mac Studio Feature

Apple Begins Selling Refurbished Mac Studio With M4 Max and M3 Ultra Chips at a Discount

Thursday June 12, 2025 10:14 am PDT by
Apple today added Mac Studio models with M4 Max and M3 Ultra chips to its online certified refurbished store in the United States, Canada, Japan, Singapore, and many European countries, for the first time since they were released in March. As usual for refurbished Macs, prices are discounted by approximately 15% compared to the equivalent new models on Apple's online store. Note that Apple's ...
iOS 26 Feature

Apple Seeds Revised iOS 26 Developer Beta to Fix Battery Issue

Friday June 13, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Apple today provided developers with a revised version of the first iOS 26 beta for testing purposes. The update is only available for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 models, so if you're running iOS 26 on an iPhone 14 or earlier, you won't see the revised beta. Registered developers can download the new beta software through the Settings app on each device. The revised beta addresses an...

Top Rated Comments

frownface Avatar
14 months ago
This is classic en-shittification.

Ramp up standard tier pricing to breaking point & then introduce an ad supported tier at the old standard tier pricing points to move price sensitive customers and begin luring in advertising revenue.

They'll keep the ad tier at the low price for some years until a significant portion of subscribers move over and reach a critical mass for most/all advertisers to sign on and locked in.

Once that happens they'll start ramping up the pricing for the ad supported plans. You'll see a $15 ad supported plan within 5 years. I'm sure of it.
Score: 47 Votes (Like | Disagree)
gaximus Avatar
14 months ago
I’d rather not watch tv than pay to watch tv with ads.
Score: 36 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Simgar988 Avatar
14 months ago

Having read the release, this was just an call to gain more advertisers. There was absolutely no mention of how many of this ad supported tier subscribers were once full paying subscribers.

How many full paying subscribers has Netflix lost?
They lost me 2 years ago. I had been a member since the dvd days.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bLackjackj Avatar
14 months ago
Having read the release, this was just a call to gain more advertisers. There was absolutely no mention of how many of these ad supported tier subscribers were once full paying subscribers.

How many full paying subscribers has Netflix lost?
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HiVolt Avatar
14 months ago
It's all gonna revert to full ads in a few years on these streaming services, there will be no option.

all this wonderful pay low fee for all this content and no annoying ads was a nice dream for a bit. but those shareholders gotta eat.

so it'll will all revert to being like cable.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TechnoMonk Avatar
14 months ago
I get free Netflix from Tmobile, rarely use it these days.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)