Netflix on Wednesday said that its ad-based tier has reached 15 million monthly active users around the world.
The company, which launched the service a year ago, has aggressively pushed the ad tier as an option to consumers. When the company last month announced an increase to the price of its premium plan, it kept the ad-tier unchanged at $6.99 a month.
Netflix is just one of many streamers looking to advertising to bolster their coffers. Disney+ likewise raised the prices for all of its plans aside from the ad-tier, and Amazon plans to roll out ads to its Prime Video service next year. With so many services and higher costs forcing consumers to whittle down their expenses, ads represent an alternative source of revenue growth.
“These developments have profound implications for the wider TV landscape,” according to Jeremy Haft, chief revenue officer of performance media partner Digital Remedy. “Not only Netflix, but other streaming platforms are also discovering inventive methods to deliver value to advertisers, leading to change the way marketers view TV advertising opportunities.”
In order to make a dent in the ad market, you need to have a large audience. That’s likely why Netflix disclosed the 15 million figure today — to get advertisers excited to work with Netflix. The figure is triple the 5 million it touted back in May.
“Our goal isn’t just to offer the same products and tools the industry has come to expect — although we’ve made a lot of progress on that front over the last year. It’s to build something bigger and better than what exists today,” the company said.
Netflix’s announcement also included a breakdown of the steps its taken to become more of a platform for advertisers, including working with Microsoft to elevate its measurement capabilities, offering new ad products and offering more sponsorship opportunities.