The survey was conducted from March 4-6, 2022 and it surveyed about 2,211 people. So not really a good representation of the US population, but it does provide some interesting insights. Among all US Adults, 27% would rather pay more for streaming and not have ads, while 57% would like to have low-cost or free streaming with ads. Which is actually rather impressive. When Netflix and Disney+ announced they would be adding ads to their platform, many were not happy. So that kind of shows us that the vocal minority doesn’t want ads. Morning Consult also broke down this survey based on a number of other demographics, including Gen Z Adults, Millennials, Gen X, Baby Boomers, White, Hispanic, Black, and Other Race or Ethnicity. Interestingly, Baby Boomers were the most interested in an ad-supported tier, at 61%. Though, they are also likely not used to paying for streaming services, so that makes sense.
Ads are likely how streaming services are going to stay afloat
In the US, in particular, streaming is pretty saturated and getting pretty expensive. We’re even seeing big names like Netflix losing over 200K customers in their most recent quarter. Which is pretty insane. So how can streaming companies keep their customers? Well, with ad-supposed tiers. That’s because the ads can help to offset the price of their service. As we’ve seen with HBO MAX, which was always $14.99 and ad-free (even before it was HBO MAX), debuted an ad-supported tier that is now $9.99. That’s a much easier pill to swallow, even though it is only $5 less per month. Ads can likely make up the difference and then some for ad-supported tiers. Especially once advertisers start competing for that space on these services. But it’s also important to keep the option for ad-supported and ad-free tiers. So that everyone can have what they want.
