Nearly 60% of New Disney+ Subscribers Opt for the Ad Tier

3 Min Read

With many consumers hitting the brakes on their subscriptions due to rising costs, the streaming world is in for a shake-up. Quoting Antenna data, eMarketer has revealed that streaming service cancellations rose to 6.3% in November of 2023 — up from 5.1% the previous year. In fact, a significant number of subscribers (25%) have axed subscriptions to at least three major streaming services in the last two years. And with 21% of streamers planning to reduce their service count in 2024, it looks like that behavior is bound to continue.

It’s not all bad news for advertisers and platforms. Streaming companies are finding ways to combat this ship jumping — the number one way being ad-supported tiers. Disney+ in particular is seeing success on that front, with almost 60% of the platform’s new subscribers opting for the more affordable ad-supported option. Amazon’s Prime Video is taking a different approach by adding ads to their base platform this month, giving viewers the option to opt out — or rather, upgrade — by paying an extra fee, a move that is expected to generate up to $5 billion in annual revenues. While this approach isn’t exactly going to solve issues around consumer dissatisfaction with streaming prices, we can expect to see continued experimenting from streaming services in general as they seek to remain relevant in an increasingly competitive market.

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