68% of Streaming Subscribers Are Now on the Ad Tier
Two-thirds of streaming customers have downgraded to ad-supported tiers to absorb the price hikes. An installer's honest take on which ad tiers are worth it — and the two where you should pay to skip ads.
The headline
Deloitte's March 2026 Digital Media Trends report found that 68% of streaming subscribers are now on ad-supported tiers. Two years ago that number was 27%. The shift happened fast — and it was driven entirely by the price hikes that have hit every major streaming service over the past 24 months.
Households are not choosing ads because they like ads. They are choosing ads because the price math finally pushed them there. The same Deloitte report found that 61% of consumers would cancel a service entirely if prices rose by $5/month. The ad tier is the safety valve that keeps people from cancelling.
What it actually means
There is a real, money-saving move sitting inside this number — but it is not the same move on every service. Some ad tiers are fine. Some are bad enough that the $3–$5 ad-free upgrade is worth it. As someone who has watched all of these in client living rooms (and at home), here is the honest installer breakdown.
Which ad tiers are actually fine
Netflix (Basic with Ads, ~$8/month). Light ad load — typically 4–5 minutes per hour, mostly at natural break points. Most household members will not even notice. If you currently pay $20 for the Standard plan, switching to the ad tier saves you about $144/year for an experience that's 90% identical. Easy yes for most homes.
Max (Basic with Ads, ~$10/month). Similar story. Ad load is light. The interface for skipping or fast-forwarding through the rare longer ad break is decent. $84/year savings on average. Worth it.
Disney+ (Basic with Ads, ~$10/month). Lighter ad load than the others — Disney specifically configured this to not feel intrusive on family content. The savings vs the $16 Premium tier ($72/year) is worth it.
Paramount+ Essential (with Ads, ~$8/month). Decent. Ad load is moderate. Not the cleanest experience but the savings vs Paramount+ with Showtime ($13/month) is real.
Which ad tiers I would skip
Hulu (With Ads, ~$10/month). Hulu's ad load has always been heavier than the rest. We see clients consistently complain that "the ads keep coming back" — that's not in their head, the Hulu ad tier shows ads more frequently than Netflix or Max ad tiers. If Hulu is on your main TV, the $19/month ad-free upgrade is worth it more than on any other service. Bumping from $10 to $19 to remove ads is a hard sell. Honest take: keep the cheap tier or cancel.
Peacock (Premium, ~$10/month with ads). Same story as Hulu. Heavier ad load than competitors. The $14/month Premium Plus tier still has ads on live programming, so even the upsell doesn't fix the problem entirely. If you only watch Peacock for the NFL Sunday Night Football package and the occasional NBC show, the ad tier is fine — you're only there a few hours a week. If Peacock is your primary on-demand watching, this isn't the platform to be on.
The math on a four-service household
Let's run a realistic household — Netflix, Disney+, Max, Hulu — currently on ad-free for all four.
| Service | Ad-free | Ad tier | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Netflix Standard | $20 | $8 | $12 |
| Disney+ Premium | $16 | $10 | $6 |
| Max Ad-Free | $17 | $10 | $7 |
| Hulu (No Ads) | $19 | $10 | $9 |
| Total | $72 | $38 | $34 |
That's $408/year for a household that switches all four to ad tiers. That's a real number. For most households, it's worth the small annoyance — especially because Netflix, Disney+, and Max ad loads are genuinely light.
If you want to split the difference: switch Netflix, Disney+, and Max to the ad tiers, keep Hulu on the ad-free upgrade since its ad tier is heavy. That still saves you $25/month, or about $300/year.
The retention move nobody mentions
Here's one most articles miss. When you go to cancel a streaming service through the app, the retention page usually offers you the ad tier at a steeper discount than what's advertised. Netflix, in particular, has been offering Basic with Ads at $5/month (instead of the listed $8) to subscribers who click "cancel" and pause in the retention flow.
We've seen this trick work on Disney+ and Hulu too. It costs you nothing to click cancel and read the retention offers. Worst case, the offer isn't there and you can keep your existing subscription. Best case, you save another $3–$5 a month per service.
What I would do if this were my house
Three moves:
- Switch Netflix, Disney+, and Max to ad tiers. Set the change, watch for a week, see if anyone notices. Most households won't.
- Keep Hulu on the ad-free tier if you're using Hulu heavily — or cancel Hulu entirely if you primarily watch the Disney bundle (consider the Disney+ / Hulu / ESPN+ bundle math).
- Run the cancel-flow retention test once a year on every service. Click "cancel." Read the offers. Take the best one. Re-subscribe at the new rate.
Sources & credits
- Deloitte — Digital Media Trends 2026 report. Source for the 68% ad-tier adoption figure and the 61% price-sensitivity figure. The most rigorous consumer-behavior data on streaming we have.
- CNBC — Reporting on Netflix's $20 Standard plan price point that helped accelerate the shift.
Our installer take — which ad tiers are actually fine vs which ones aren't — is based on years of watching all of these in client homes and our own.