Netflix’s ad supported plan just keeps growing. So much so that it now reaches more than 250 million monthly active viewers. The company confirmed the increase in ad-supported users during its Upfront 2026 event this week.
What You Need to Know
- Netflix’s ad‑supported plan now reaches 250M+ monthly active viewers, a huge jump from 94M last year.
- Over 80% of ad‑supported users watch weekly, signaling strong retention and advertiser‑friendly behavior.
- Netflix will roll out the ad‑supported plan to 15 more countries beginning next year, including Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Thailand, and more.
Netflix only introduced its Basic with ads plan back in 2022. Although it has gone through some changes since then, including a rebranding as the Standard with ads plan, it has continually attracted more users.
According to Netflix, the with ads plan now reaches more than 250 million global monthly active viewers.
To put this number into perspective, by May of 2023, Netflix only had 5 million ‘with ads’ subscribers. While that number had climbed to 23 million by the start of 2024, it skyrocketed to 70 million by November of the same year.
At the last count, Netflix’s Upfront presentation in 2025, the number of ad-supported subscribers had grown to 94 million.
Just one year on, and the number has grown again, and this time by more than 150, marking the best year of growth for the ad-supported plan to date.
Not only is the overall number of ad-supported users growing, but the vast majority of them are engaged users as well.
According to Netflix, more than 80% of its ad-supported userbase actively watches every week.
With the ad-supported plan doing so well, Netflix is keen on expanding its availability to more countries, and that’s exactly what will happen soon.
According to Netflix, the ad-supported plan will roll out to 15 more countries beginning next year.
Confirmed countries set to gain access to Netflix’s Standard with ads tier includes Austria, Belgium, Colombia, Denmark, Indonesia, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and Thailand.
“We’ve got cutting-edge technology, we’ve got great entertainment across shows, movies, podcasts, and live events, and we’ve got the most engaged and attentive audience. We’ve proven we’re effective, and now we’re expanding ads to more places and we’re ready to compete with anyone,” said Amy Reinhard, Netflix’s President of Advertising.
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