Streaming subscribers increasingly opt for ad-supported plans

Ad-supported streaming plans moved from experiment to mainstream, surpassing 110 million in the United States, excluding Amazon Prime Video subscriptions bundled with Amazon Prime.

Antenna estimated the total in its Q2 2026 “State of Subscriptions: Adds & Ads” report, which found that advertising tiers drove most premium SVOD growth over the past nine quarters.

Ad-supported tiers accounted for 48% of subscriptions among premium SVOD services that offered an ad plan in the first quarter of 2026, up 2 percentage points year over year and 9 points over two years. The tiers generated 59% of gross subscriber additions during the quarter.

Over the nine quarters ending in the first quarter of 2026, ad-supported plans drove 50.4 million of 64.8 million net subscriber additions, or 78%, according to the report, with Atenna calling the debate over ads “settled.” 

Peacock led ad-supported gross additions in the first quarter with 5.3 million, representing 25% of the market measured by Antenna.

Consumer adoption of ad-supported plans also continued to expand. By March 2026, 78% of premium SVOD subscribers had used an ad-supported plan at least once, an increase of 5 percentage points year over year and 15 points over two years.

Retention rates for ad-supported and ad-free plans remained similar. After 12 months, 37% of subscribers who joined ad-supported plans remained subscribed, compared with 39% of subscribers who selected ad-free plans.

The report also examined the streaming choices of households that canceled traditional or virtual pay TV services. Among cord cutters who did not subscribe to a virtual multichannel video programming distributor within 90 days of cancellation, 43% subscribed to an ad-supported premium SVOD plan, 30% selected an ad-free plan and 27% did not subscribe to a premium SVOD service.

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Antenna found that programming choices affected the types of viewers reached by streaming services. Netflix’s Christmas Day NFL games reached a larger share of light viewers than the service’s December baseline, with light viewers accounting for 44% of the games’ audience compared with 32% of the baseline audience.

By contrast, “Skyscraper Live” drew a higher concentration of heavy Netflix viewers. Heavy viewers accounted for 43% of the program’s audience, compared with 22% of Netflix’s January baseline, according to the report.

Antenna based its analysis on permission-based consumer transaction records, including digital purchase and cancellation receipts, subscription signals and financial data. The company said it modeled and weighted the data to account for demographic and behavioral differences in its panel.