Around time last year, Disney+ introduced a new ad-supported tier in the United Kingdom and according to some new data from Barb, the number of subscribers signing up to the cheaper option continues to rise.

The Barb has released its latest Establishment Survey for the third quarter of 2024, which has shown that Netflix, Amazon and Disney+ continue to build up their advertising tiers.

The number of UK homes on the Netflix ad tier continues to build, reaching 3.8m (13.1%) up from 2.78m (9.5%) in Q2. The Disney+ ad tier averaged 1.2m (4.1%) up from 820k homes in Q2.  

It’s worth pointing out that Amazon’s introduction of an ad-supported tier was different than Netflix and Disney+, as they migrated everyone over to the ad-supported tier, rather than introducing a cheaper tier, which is why 86% of homes with Amazon Prime Video access in Q3 are on the ad tier – 11.5m homes (39.3%).

Overall, Disney+ is now available in 7.5 million homes (25.7%) in the United Kingdom, which is down around 100,000 from the last quarter. 

Here’s a full breakdown of the current situation in the UK:

• Netflix: 17.3m UK homes (59%) had access to Netflix in Q3 2024 up from 17.1m UK homes (58.6%) in Q2.
• Amazon Prime Video: 13.4m UK homes (45.9%) had access to Amazon Prime Video in Q3 down from 13.7m UK homes (46.7%) in Q2.
• Disney+: 7.5 UK homes (25.7%) had access to Disney+ in Q3 down from 7.6m UK homes (26.1%) in Q2.
• Apple TV+: 2.5m UK homes (8.6%) had access to Apple TV+ in Q3 up from 2.4m UK homes (8.3%) in Q2.
• Paramount+: 2.8m UK homes (9.4%) had access to Paramount+ in Q3 flat from 2.8m UK homes (9.7%) in Q2.
• Discovery+: 3.2m UK homes (10.9%) had access to Discovery+ in Q3 flat from 3.2m UK homes (11.1%) in Q2.
• NOW: 2.1m UK homes (7%) had access to NOW in Q3 up from 1.98m UK homes (6.8%) in Q2.

Doug Whelpdale, Head of Insight at Barb, said in statement:

“After strong growth in Q1 and Q2 it was perhaps inevitable that the growth in homes accessing subscription VOD services would slow. The overall number of homes accessing at least one SVOD service remained above 20m, but the number with more than two services dipped to below 14m homes. Suggesting viewers continue to remain wary of economic turbulence.

This stability in overall subscriber numbers further demonstrates why services are exploring other avenues to continue revenue growth. While Amazon is likely to be the biggest ad tier for some time, it’s interesting to see the growth of the Netflix ad tier towards 4m homes and Disney+ past 1m homes. With darker evenings and the festive season on the horizon the number of ad tier homes for Netflix and Disney seems likely to grow.”

Roger’s Take:  It’s only to be expected that there will be a slight dip in subscriptions during the summer months, and with the darker nights, it’s likely going to go back up in the next quarter.  With the ad-supported tier of Disney+ just £4.99 a month, which is under half the price of the ad-free tier, it’s no surprise that more people are moving to the cheaper alternative, and that’s only going to continue to grow.  It’s also interesting to see how few Amazon subscribers haven’t paid to upgrade their subscriptions to ad-free, since I do feel there are millions of Amazon subscribers who never use their app and use it for cheap delivery.

Are you on the ad-free or ad-supported tier?  Let me know on social media!

Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

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