The number of Netflix subscribers on the streamer’s ad-supported tier has grown by 14% on a year, but Prime Video remains way out in front in this metric, according to Digital i.
Research covering the 12 months between the fourth quarter of 2024 and the end of the third of 2025 showed 40% of active Netflix accounts are now using ad tiers. This was up from 26% for the same period in the previous year.
The figure, which is captured by monitoring 20 markets, marks the highest rate of growth for any global streamer, ahead of the 9% growth at Disney+ and 6% growth at HBO Max.
Prime Video remains the service with the highest overall proportion of ad-tier usage, with 82% using it, down from 88%. Disney+’s usage sits at 44% and HBO Max’s at 28%. Netflix is third in that list, and the huge response to Stranger Things‘ final segment over Christmas is likely to have driven engagement higher since the study was conducted.
In November, Amazon announced that Prime Video was reaching 315 monthly viewers, up from 200 million in April 2024. This compares with more than 190 million reached through Netflix. There is ongoing debate around the metrics used to reach these numbers, but the broad trend is an ongoing uptick in the number using ad-supported tiers.
To find its stats, Digital i measures streaming audience data in the U.S., Canada, Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, The Netherlands, Poland, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Australia, South Korea and Japan.
