Netflix is seeing strong growth of its advertising-based plan, having recently eclipsed 23 million global monthly active users, president of advertising Amy Reinhard said.
Reinhard spoke Wednesday at the Variety Entertainment Summit at CES 2024 at Las Vegas’ Aria Resort and Casino. “The thing we’re really excited about is the engagement,” she said. Of Netflix’s customers on ad-supported plans, more than 85% are streaming on the platform for two hours or more per month, she said.
The new 23 million-plus figure comes after Netflix a little over two months ago said its ad-supported tier had over 15 million monthly active users worldwide. In an October letter to shareholders, Netflix said ad-tier subscriptions accounted for approximately 30% of all new signups in the 12 counties where it has launched the platform.
“We’re very fortunate to be able to take a long-term perspective on this,” Reinhard said at the Variety Entertainment Summit. “Scaling our business is absolutely our biggest priority right now, but we want to make sure we’re doing that in a meaningful way for the members.”
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She added, “We know there’s a lot of work to do on our side, but we’re all about learning and iterating and working with our advertising partners to figure out, ‘How do we grow this business in a meaningful way?'” as well as keeping customers engaged and remaining focused on content. Asked by moderator Cynthia Littleton, co-editor in chief of Variety, about Netflix’s ad-tech deal with Microsoft, Reinhard said that partnership has been going well.
Reinhard, previously Netflix’s VP of studio operations, took over the reins of the streamer’s ad business from Jeremi Gorman, who exited the company in October 2023 after a little more than a year with Netflix.
Netflix Basic With Ads launched in the U.S. and 11 other countries in November 2022. In the U.S., the plan costs $6.99 per month — less than half the price of the Standard plan ($15.49 per month).
