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Netflix is rolling out news to make you take pause.
Top line
During CES this week, Netflix revealed that its ad tier now reaches 23 million monthly active users globally.
In addition, the company is adding pause ads in the upcoming months.
Between the lines
Amy Reinhard, the company’s president of advertising, last gave an update on ad tier numbers in November for the streaming plan’s one-year anniversary. At the time, the ad tier had 15 million monthly active users.
Buyers previously told Adweek that scale was the biggest issue with Netflix’s ad tier. That remains a priority for the streamer, with the recently announced growth being a step in the right direction.
Even before the news, the streaming giant was reporting more usage from its ad tier, with memberships up almost 70% quarter over quarter in October. Additionally, on average, 30% of all sign-ups in countries with ad-supported tiers go toward the plan.
The ad tier is also adding more formats in the next few months with pause ads going global.
The format is meant to be non-disruptive to the viewer experience, including content key art next to advertiser campaigns and only displaying after 5 idle seconds.
The global rollout of pause ads adds to Netflix’s growing list of ad formats, which include the upcoming Binge ads and QR codes, which are also debuting in ad creative this year.
Bottom line
The updates come as the TV and streaming industry continues to push subscribers to ad tiers, where revenue per user is often much higher than with SVOD.
For instance, Netflix recently raised prices for its ad-free plans, leaving the ad-supported plan prices untouched.
Meanwhile, Prime Video is rolling out its new ad-supported plan to all of its subscribers at the end of the month, giving consumers the option to go ad-free for an additional $2.99 per month on top of the yearly subscription plan.
