When asked about their preference regarding streaming media, with or without ads, most users would like pick the latter. I would go even so far to claim that many dislike ads with a passion. However, when you add a monetary component to the question, things get interesting.
Get the cheaper, but ad-powered streaming option, or pay more, but save up on time and get rid of the ads?
It appears that the strategy of companies like Disney, Amazon, or Netflix is paying them huge dividends already. Ad-powered streaming subscriptions are pushing to new highs every financial quarter, it appears, and there does not seem to be any slowing down either.
Introduced just a few years ago, ad-supported plans make up a sizeable portion of total subscribers for major streaming platforms.
- Netflix: last figure is 190 million users who use an ad-powered plan, but uses new metric.
- Disney: about 164 million, does include Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ however.
- Amazon: 315 million
Netflix introduced a new metric for its ad-powered plan recently. Previously, the company counted subscriptions only, which, according to the last report for which the company used the metric, was 94 million. The new report looks at household numbers as well.
Regardless, about a third of Netflix subscriptions seem to be ad-powered. For Amazon, it is even more. The reason is simple: Amazon decided to make all Prime Video subscriptions ad-powered. If you do not want ads, you have to pay Amazon a few extra bucks to avoid them. Most users apparently don’t.
Even more interesting, Amazon boasted in its last earnings call that it managed to boost subscribers from 200 million in 2024 to the-now 315 million.
Four out of ten Netflix subscribers pick the ad-powered plan, according to Netflix. Disney is likely seeing signups in a similar range.
Why are ad-powered plans growing? The most likely, and simple, answer is: because they are cheaper. Much cheaper in fact. The Standard with Ads plan of Netflix USA costs subscribers around $8 per month. The cheapest ad-free plan costs more than double at around $18 per month. If you want 4K, it is thrice as much at around $25 per month.
While subscribers of the Premium plan get some benefits that the other two plans do not support, notably 4K, Spatial Audio and HDR support, the only differentiating factor that matters between Standard with Ads and Standard is the advertisement.
Disney pricing is very similar in this regard, albeit considerably below the twice as expensive mark. The Disney+, Hulu Bundle, both with ads, costs around $13 per month. Without ads, the price rises to around $20.
While the “with ads” plans will likely become more expensive as time passes, there does not seem to be an end to their growth yet.
Now You: Are you subscribed to an ad-powered plan? Or do you prefer plans without ads, or no plans at all? Feel free to leave a comment down below.
One other reason for the increase in the ad based plans is that there are lots of other companies and services from cellphone plans, 5G internet plans, and cable tv plans that offer some of these AD based streaming services as part of the plan you sign up for.
If you have any of those plans you should check to see what else they have added in.
I get nine (9) ad based streaming services with my cable plan, paramount+, disney+, hulu, peacock, hbo/max, espn unlimited, amc+, fox 1, and vix. Since I cannot get local chanels with an antenna due to distances. These added streams even though they include ads, have kept me with the cable plan instread of swithing to a internet based tv plan that has local channels. As the cable plan with all these streams is much less expensive.
“I would go even so far to claim that many dislike ads with a passion.’. Count me in. Mainly because of the quantity more than the very idea of advertisement. Not to mention malvertisement though specific to the Web, not to streaming services as far as I can guess: I use none, never have.
I must admit being surprised by the increasing amount of ad-supported subscriptions; not that I imagined an increase of ad-free subscriptions (money rules it all, for most of us) but rather a decrease of subscriptions, whatever they be. How often have I not read users threatening to quit streaming services (threatening in the face of who y the way?) when at the same time many others, if not themselves, carry on, paying extra bucks or extra advertisement.
To quote a philosopher who is not basically my cup of tea, Cioran, “To be or not to be? Neither” did he ad, precisely, unequivocally. When confronted to a dilemma where none of the alternatives suit you, choose neither and move away is my personal approach… with the exception of fundamental necessities of life, and streaming is not.
It’d be only a number of zeros you add to the number that would reverse principles, opinions and even passions, according to some who put that assertion on the account of realism. Realism, pragmatism happen to be the facade of cynicism. They forget to ad, “for most”, hence not for everyone. There are many good things, improvement in modern life but also a substantial amount of trash. The idea is to serialize correctly and behave accordingly without surrendering to addiction.
Get a book, literature is wide, get your kicks and emotions from there, in there and close your eyes and ears to the streaming big business.
“The idea is to serialize correctly and behave accordingly without surrendering to addiction.”
Did I write that? Shame on me, once again I goofed by transposing a French word into English.
I had in mind French “sérier” which means to classify (yeps, I do think in French).
I transposed to English “serialize” which means basically to “convert data into storable format”.
Hence, I should have written,
“The idea is to classify correctly and behave accordingly without surrendering to addiction.”
NOTE: this is not apology aimed at getting one’s attention on the comment 🙂
“Why are ad-powered plans growing? The most likely, and simple, answer is: because they are cheaper.”
Addiction specialists agree-streaming, the Internet, phones, etc. are all highly addictive. I know few people who can last a day without a phone or computer. Asking someone to avoid “binging” over the weekend is a recipe for a catatonic upheaval. Like street drugs–if the user needs the “fix,” even though it may be cut/diluted, they will still purchase it to avoid withdrawals.
Subscription prices–price gouging–it’s like a blockade on one’s enjoyment of artistic pleasure. What we need is a “flotilla” to stop the exploitation of the masses.
That’s not going to happen because too many people are unwilling to do without streaming for a month or two or three to create the results wanted–fair, ad-free subscription prices.
It’s the fact that they are cheaper, people have been conditioned to accept ads, there are too many subscription services so rather than cutting them off completely people are opting for the cheaper options within those subscriptions and then taking those savings to other similar services to gain access to more content.
Finally these ad options are becoming more popular because companies have a vested interest in selling you this subscription as it makes them much more money at the same time.
Eventually they will increase the prices to a point where you are paying more the ad service than you would an ad free version and those ad free versions may cease to exists.
As a business if there is a way to offer you less whilst spending less and making more then that is what a business will do.
Truth be told all these streaming services are unnecessary, wildly over priced, inferior in quality and in general not that great at all.
Companies like roku are now making more money from advertising and profiling schemes than they are subscriptions as they are actively taking screenshots of what you watch through Hdmi and then processing that and generating a profile/fingerprint based on that allowing them to better target you with advertising.
The future is grim within many aspects of the tech world and drifts further and further away from consumer rights and ideals.
Personally I do not pay for any of these.subscription services and am actively building my own home lab. Even if not in front of the TV all day or consuming media excessively I enjoy breaking away from the system and maintaining my own system whilst exercising my right to freedoms and autonomy.