Bloomberg warns that the internal data it has seen is “at least” a month old and that it does not account for multiple users viewing through the same account. But the numbers suggest Netflix is gaining a foothold with the new revenue stream, after relying overwhelmingly on subscriber revenue for most of its history. And Bloomberg notes that ad-supported subscribers appear to be new to the service, rather than users downgrading from a traditional ad-free plan.
Growth, but still slower than some competitors
Antenna’s analysis suggests that Netflix’s shift to an ad-supported model has been slower than competitors HBO Max and Disney Plus when they introduced their ad levels in June 2021 and December 2022. By the third month, 36 percent of new Disney Plus signups for an ad-supported subscription versus 21 percent for HBO Max and 19 percent for Netflix. But it is noteworthy that Netflix has now apparently delivered on its advertiser forecasts initially do not meet the viewing guarantees.
Despite the growth, ad-supported users represent a small portion of Netflix’s 74 million US residents. That could change in the coming months, however, as the company’s long-promised crackdown on password sharing is rolled out more widely. If a user is price sensitive enough to share an account with a friend, the reasoning is that they may also be price sensitive enough to opt for a cheaper, ad-supported tier.
Revelation: The edge recently produced a series with Netflix.
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