• by Wayne Friedman , December 20, 2022

Netflix's "Basic with Ads" option is off to a "modest" start, according to research from Antenna.

According to the measurement and analytics company’s research, in November 9% of new Netflix sign-ups in the U.S. went to its Basic with Ads option -- the least popular Netflix plan during the month.

By way of comparison, for the month, 25% of new sign-ups during the month were for Netflix’s "Premium" no-ads/subscription plan, while 24% were for its "Standard" plan and 41% were for its "Basic" plan.

Antenna estimates that only 0.1% of existing U.S. subscribers switched from an ad-free plan to Basic with Ads.

The total share of U.S. Netflix subscribers on the ad-supported tier is 0.2%.

Netflix currently has 73.4 million subscribers in the U.S. and Canada, according to the company.

Antenna's results exclude free tiers, pay TV providers, telco distribution, and select bundles. 

By comparison, when HBO Max started up its ad-supported option back in June 2021, 15% of its new sign-ups came to its ad-option alternative.

Antenna found that 0.2% of existing U.S. HBO Max subscribers switched to the ad-supported plan in its launch month -- double the rate for Netflix for its subscribers who changed from Netflix's no-advertising plan.

Of all major streaming platforms, Peacock has the largest share of ad-supported subscribers when looking at all its Peacock streaming options, at 76%. Hulu is next at 57%, followed by Discovery+ with 44%, Paramount+ at 44% and HBO Max with 57%.

Antenna says it sources data from data-collection partners, contributing millions of permission-based, consumer opt-in, raw transaction records.