Ad-supported streaming services continue to gain popularity in the UK, with 37% of new subscriptions in Q2 for ad tiers, from 26% a year earlier.
This means ad-supported streaming now reaches 44% of UK households. Meanwhile, 51% subscribe to ad-free platforms.
According to the latest Entertainment on Demand study from Worldpanel by Numerator (previously a Kantar report), current trends would suggest the number of households subscribing to ad-supported services will outnumber those subscribed to ad-free platforms by Q2 2026.
Amazon Prime Video remains the leader in here, with 83% of its total subscribers — representing almost 8m households — on the ad tier.
Another notable performer is Paramount+, which managed to double the proportion of subscribers on its ad tier, from 25% to 49%.
Streaming subs continue to climb
Overall, paid streaming subscriptions in the UK reached 19.9m households in Q2 — an increase of 400,000 year on year.
Disney+ attracted the highest share of new paying subscribers in Q2, accounting for 22%. That’s its highest share since early 2023.
While the new series of Andor and Grey’s Anatomy helped to attract new sign-ups, Worldpanel by Numerator suggested that promotional and partner activity was the main driver for this growth. This includes partnerships with Lloyds Bank, O2 and Tesco Clubcard, as well as offers for Disney+’s standard ad tier.
Disney+ also recently announced a partnership with ITV to share each other’s content on their respective streaming platforms.
ITVX and Disney+ content-sharing deal to bring strong co-promotion opportunities
Adolescence leads Q2
The most-watched show during the period was Adolescence on Netflix, followed by Clarkson’s Farm (Amazon Prime Video) and Dept Q (Netflix).
Dominic Sunnebo, commercial director at Worldpanel by Numerator, highlighted the trend of more people willing to pay for ads alongside streaming platforms’ efforts in tapping into new audiences.
He added: “In many ways, it’s a full circle moment where the likes of Netflix, Disney+ and more are creeping closer to traditional broadcast TV.”
Meanwhile, Entertainment on Demand found that Netflix was the leader in terms of ad experience, with the highest proportion of subscribers reporting satisfaction across metrics such as number of ads and length of ads.
While Paramount+ grew ad tier subscribers strongly, just 18% were happy with the number of ad breaks per show.
“The experience of subscribers remains crucial to sustained long-term growth,” Sunnebo added. “Too many irrelevant ads can edge away at the experience and cause churn.”
