Antenna estimates there were almost 100M ad-supported Premium SVOD subscriptions in the U.S. by the end of Q1’25, up from 53M just two years prior. That's a remarkable amount of growth in a relatively short period of time.
So how did all of these ad-supported subscriptions come to be?
Antenna analyzed the path to subscription for ad-supported plans by breaking out subscriptions into three different segments – New Users, Win Backs, and Traders. New Users are individuals who, prior to signing up for the ad tier of a given service, Antenna had not previously observed subscribing to that service. Win Backs are those who previously subscribed to a service, canceled, and resubscribed to the ad-supported tier. Traders are individuals who were subscribed to an ad-free plan and switched to the ad-supported plan for the same service.
Across all Premium SVOD ad-supported subscriptions, Antenna estimates that as of the end of Q1’25 65% of ad-supported subscriptions in the U.S. were New Users. In comparison, 23% of ad-supported subscriptions were Win Backs, and only 11% were Traders.
But when we break out Netflix from the rest of the category, a different trend emerges. Some 40% of Netflix ad-supported subscriptions are Traders who switched from an ad-free tier, compared to just 6% for all other Premium SVOD services. Netflix is the only Premium SVOD service that is successfully converting a significant number of existing Subscribers to their ad plan.
New Users accounted for 44% of Netflix ad-supported subscriptions, compared to 69% for all other Premium SVOD. Only 16% of Netflix ad-supported subscriptions were Win Backs versus 25% for all other Premium SVOD services.
This post includes data excerpted from Antenna’s Q2’25 State of Subscriptions Report and its companion webinar. If you’re interested in getting your own copy of the report, you can download it here. Antenna clients have exclusive access to a client-only expanded version of the Q2’25 State of Subscriptions report. Want to become an Antenna client? We want that for you, too! Drop us a line and let’s discuss.
For more detailed information on Antenna’s methodology and definitions of core metrics, please visit http://www.antenna.live/methodology.
