In June 2024, the share of U.S. consumers using ad-free streaming services significantly dropped to ** percent, compared to ** percent recorded in 2023, suggesting a change in viewing behavior. Meanwhile, the share of consumers using ad-supported services increased from ** percent in June 2021 to ** percent in June 2024.
A 2024 survey found that U.S. consumers using ad-free video services are more likely to keep their subscriptions within a year than ad-supported consumers, with 85 percent of respondents indicating they will definitely or probably continue using SVOD services. In comparison, 74 percent of users of ad-supported services expressed similar interest in keeping their platforms.
As of the first quarter of 2024, ** percent of U.S. Prime Video consumers had an ad-supported account, while ** percent had an ad-free subscription. In contrast, ** percent of Netflix subscribers had an ad-free account and just ** percent subscribed to an ad-supported tier.
An early 2023 survey conducted in the U.S. found that more people preferred ad-supported over ad-free video streaming services, with ** percent of respondents stating to prefer advertising-based platforms. Whilst 60 to 69-year-olds were most likely to use AVOD services, the typical ad-free consumer was 18 to 29 years.
During a survey among free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) users in the United States and released in April 2024, approximately 67 percent of respondents said they preferred seeing advertisements that were relevant to their streaming content. Another 29 percent of respondents preferred targeted ads tailored to their preferences.
The majority of Norwegian respondents to a survey from 2023 preferred ads in exchange for lower-cost content plans over a paid ad-free experience, with ** percent accepting some ad-supported TV shows and movies. Meanwhile, around one in four people preferred to pay for ad-free tiers.
In 2024, around 84 percent of adult internet users surveyed in Brazil said they were more or very likely to prefer cell phones with free apps containing targeted advertising instead of a model with ad-free, paid apps. Two years earlier, the share stood at 87 percent. According to the same study, 63 percent of internet users in Brazil preferred to consume free online services and content with targeted ads in 2024.
According to a March 2022 survey conducted among U.S. adults, most of the Gen X or older users at selected hybrid video-on-demand platforms were more likely to select the ad-free tier rather than the ad-supported one. For example, the share of Gen Xers and older using the ad-free version of Peacock Premium amounted to ** percent, while ** percent of this generation were ad-supported viewers.
A survey conducted in December 2021 discovered that 79 percent of U.S. TV viewers were likely to continue to subscribe to the ad-free tier of HBO Max in the next three months. In comparison, 69 percent of respondents were likely to keep subscribing to the ad-supported version of the same service.
Among the top 100 most often shown ads on free TV in Mexico between April 2018 and March 2019, 71 percent was targeting adults, 23 percent was targeting young adults and six percent was targeting adolescents. TV ad spending in Mexico in 2018 amounted to 2.27 billion U.S. dollars.
During a 2023 survey carried out in Denmark, ** percent of responding consumers stated they accepted ads to get free access to news, information and/or entertainment. In 2015, the share stood at ** percent.
According to a survey conducted in August 2024, nearly half of consumers in the United States indicated that their primary motivation for choosing free ad-supported streaming services was variety, making it the most mentioned reason. Another 45 percent of U.S. respondents also expressed that free streaming channels are easy to use.
According to a survey conducted among TV viewers in the United States in the fourth quarter of 2024, ** percent of respondents said they would rather watch ads if it meant they would save * or * U.S. dollars per month. Conversely, ** percent of respondents said they would rather avoid ads even if that cost them * or * dollars more per month.
As of March 2024, 32 percent of U.S. respondents to a survey on CTV services removed a subscription streaming service from their connected TV devices in the past 12 months. During this time, one in four people added a free ad-supported streaming platform. The study revealed that more consumers plan to cancel subscriptions and shift to ad-supported streaming options.
During a January 2023 survey among members of Generation Z – aged between 18 and 24 years at the time of data collection – in the United States, ** percent said social media featured the type of video ads with the most influence on their buying decision process. That included what they bought, where they ate and shopped, and the movies and TV shows they watched. TV commercials – including on ad-supported streaming services – and ads on free video websites followed, mentioned by ** and ** percent of respondents, respectively.
During a survey conducted among audio listeners in Italy in 2023, around ** percent of respondents said they would rather listen to ads instead of paying a higher price for their content. Conversely, ** percent of respondents said they would rather avoid ads even if that cost them a higher price.
When it comes to the people comfortable with ads for free content in selected countries worldwide, Spain ranks the highest in this list. 52 percent of consumer in Spain share this attitude. Following in the second place is South Africa, while Japan can be found at the bottom of the ranking.Statista Consumer Insights offer you all results of our exclusive Statista surveys, based on more than 2,000,000 interviews.
A survey from March 2022 found that the share of Peacock Premium users with a household income of less than 50,000 U.S. dollars subscribing to the ad-free tier was higher than the share of lower-cost ad-supported Peacock users, with 41 percent of ad-free users and 31 percent of ad-supported users. Consumers with a household income of more than 100,000 U.S. dollars were more likely to to choose the ad-supported version of the streaming service. The same can be observed for Discovery+, albeit not with such a large difference. By comparison, lower-income HBO Max viewers opted for the ad-funded plan, while higher-income households rather selected the ad-free tier.
Results from a survey held in the United States in 2020 showed that younger podcasts user were more in favor of paid, ad-free podcast content than older generations, with ten percent of adults aged 18 to 34 years old saying that they believed all podcasts should cost money and should not contain ads, compared to just two percent of adults aged over 55 who said the same.
According to a survey conducted in December 2022 and January 2023, ** percent of TV users in France prefer to watch free ad-supported content. In comparison, only ** percent of consumers prefer to pay for an ad-free experience.
In June 2024, the share of U.S. consumers using ad-free streaming services significantly dropped to ** percent, compared to ** percent recorded in 2023, suggesting a change in viewing behavior. Meanwhile, the share of consumers using ad-supported services increased from ** percent in June 2021 to ** percent in June 2024.