Five years after ad-supported options arrived in market, the question of whether streaming consumers would accept ads at all is settled. Antenna estimates there are now more than 110M ad-supported streaming plans in the US, excluding Amazon Prime Video. An overwhelming majority of Premium SVOD Subscribers—78%—have signed up for an ad plan at some point in the past 4 years. And the early concern that ad-supported subscribers would prove lower quality than their ad-free counterparts has not materialized.
For services that offer ad plans, those plans account for 48% of current Subscribers, 59% of Gross Additions in Q1'26, and 78% of Net Additions over the past 9 quarters.
If the past 5 years were about consumer acceptance, the next cycle will be defined by scaling and stabilization. Three open questions stand out.
First, several services, including Apple TV, Starz, and the vast majority of Specialty SVODs, do not yet offer ad plans. Whether and how they introduce advertising into their subscription offerings will be a defining dynamic of the next phase.
Second, the streaming audience available to advertisers remains a moving target. When cutting the pay TV cord—traditional or digital—57% of these individuals go dark to TV advertisers within 90 days after canceling, meaning they have only an ad-free plan or have no subscription streaming service at all. Compounding this, 60% of all consumers who sign up for a Premium SVOD service cancel within their first year. Advertisers and services alike will need to adapt their planning, packaging, and measurement to an audience that is large in aggregate but constantly shifting.
Third, ad revenue grows when impressions grow, and impressions grow when time spent grows. Driving engagement—not just acquiring subscribers—has become the central operational lever for every streamer with an ad business, and it will remain so as the category matures.
Antenna's latest State of Subscriptions Report, released today, provides a data-driven examination of these dynamics, including detailed analyses of ad plan acquisition by service, the paths subscribers take into ad plans, the journey taken by Cord Cutters and pay TV cancelers, and how Heavy, Medium, and Light Viewer segmentation can reshape the way streaming audiences are understood for advertising.
This quarter, we are once again opening our companion webinars to all. In these 30-minute briefings, Antenna's CEO Jonathan Carson, VP of Strategy Brendan Brady, and Insights Manager Brooke Kilker will walk through the report's key findings, share perspective on the data, and answer questions. Register for one of the sessions below:
Tuesday, June 2 at 10:00am ET/7:00am PT
Tuesday, June 2 at 2:00pm ET/11:00am PT
Wednesday, June 3 at 12:30pm ET/9:30am PT
To download your own copy of the full report, you can access it here. If you're already on our distribution list, check your email; we have sent a download link to everyone who has opted in to receive correspondence from Antenna. Antenna clients have exclusive access to a client-only expanded version of the Q2'26 State of Subscriptions report. Want to become an Antenna client? We want that, too. Drop us a line and let's chat.
For more detailed information on Antenna's methodology and definitions of core metrics, please visit antenna.live/methodology.
