Advertising has become an entrenched part of the streaming landscape in a remarkably short period of time. Just two years ago, half of the Premium SVOD services didn’t even offer an ad-supported plan, and only about 1 in 3 subscriptions were opting in to ad plans.
But today, things look pretty different. So for the Q2’25 edition of Antenna’s State of Subscriptions Report, we’re offering an updated look at advertising in the streaming ecosystem.
Nearly half (46%) of subscriptions are ad-supported among the SVOD services that offer both ad-free and ad-supported options. Ad-supported subscriptions grew 32.7% YoY, while ad-free subscriptions fell by 0.1% over the same period.
Without a doubt, ad-supported plans are driving growth. Some 71% of Net Additions in the past 9 quarters came from ad plans. Ad-supported Net Adds grew by 7.6M YoY from 19.8M in 2023 to 27.4M in 2024. (Ad-supported Net Adds in Q1’25 were down 3.3M YoY, driven by the exclusive NFL AFC Wild Card Game on Peacock in Q1’24, which drove a surge in ad-supported acquisition.)
In comparison, ad-free Net Adds fell by 8.7M YoY from 14.1M in 2023 to 5.4M in 2024. Ad-free Net Adds were up 1.8M YoY from -0.9M in Q1’24 to 1.0M in Q1’25.
The growth of advertising in streaming represents an incredible amount of change in a very short period of time, and a win for streamers, brands, and consumers alike. Streamers can build a dual-stream business model and expand their addressable market by offering a lower priced tier for more casual fans. Brands can transition their highly successful TV advertising strategies to streaming. And consumers can affordably access more services by taking ads on some of them.
If you’re interested in downloading your own copy of the full report, you can access it here. If you’re already on our distribution list, check your email - we’ve sent out a download link to everyone who has opted-in to receive communication from Antenna. If you’re an existing Antenna client, you have exclusive access to a client-only expanded version of the Q2’25 State of Subscriptions Report.
For more detailed information on Antenna’s methodology and definitions of core metrics, please visit http://www.antenna.live/methodology.
