Ad-supported subscriptions are helping to drive growth in streaming video right now. This sudden rise in ad-supported sign-ups over the past few years, as well as the upcoming launches by Netflix and Disney+ of their own ad-supported options, begs the question that streamers and advertisers alike want to answer: who are the users opting for ad-supported services?
Antenna examined its demographic data based on plan type and discovered that AVOD subscribers are not all that different from their counterparts who opt for an ad-free plan. When aggregating the subscriber bases of the five premium SVOD services with ad-supported options — Discovery+, HBO Max, Hulu, Paramount+, and Peacock —, the demographics of ad-supported and ad-free subscribers are overwhelmingly similar in distribution in terms of age, ethnicity, gender and income.
Ad-supported subscribers skew slightly more female, with women representing 53.4% of ad-supported users, compared to just 48.8% for ad-free plans. Ad-supported subscribers also skew slightly older, with 43.7% over the age of 50 compared to ad-free plans where 41.7% of subscribers are over 50.
Furthermore, subscribers of ad-supported plans skew slightly lower in household income with 33.9% of ad-supported plan subscribers at a household income under $50.000, compared to 31.9% of ad-free subscribers. For those subscribers with household incomes over $150.000, 16.8% opt for ad-supported services, compared to the 18.8% that are ad-free.