Insight

It’ll all end in tiers was a common headline when pure-play streamers began introducing ad tiers. They were absolutely right, although it’ll all end in consolidation could perhaps have been added as well.

Since Barb began measuring streamers’ ad tiers, Netflix has more than doubled its proportion of subscriber homes viewing with ads from 16% in Q2 2024 to 35% in Q3 this year. That’s more than six million UK homes.

Disney+ has almost tripled its proportion of ad tier homes from 11% to 30% over the same period, now showing ads in almost 2.3 million homes.

Amazon Prime Video, which migrated most subscribers to an ad tier by default, has 87% of its subscribers viewing with ads – almost 12 million UK homes.

But what do these viewers look like, and do they view any differently to those paying to view without ads?

The Welsh are most consistently more likely to take ad-free options

Barb Establishment Survey data allows us to see if there are regional differences in where people are more, or less, willing to pay to view ad-free on the major streaming services.

For Netflix, where 39% of the total UK population choose to view without ads, the figure in Scotland is 52%. This drops to 27% in the Midlands. In absolute terms that means there are as many people viewing ad-free in Scotland, 2.7m, as there are in total in the South and South-East (excluding London).

Chart 1: The Midlands and Northern Ireland are more likely to view with adsSource: Barb Establishment Survey Q3 2025. All individuals 4+. Regional uptake of ad-free tiers indexed versus UK average for each service.

If we take the same data for Disney+, the pattern is similar. 18% take the ad free option nationwide, rising to 23% in Scotland, but pipped by viewers in the South-West where 25% take the ad-free option.

Starting from a lower proportion of homes viewing on Amazon Prime Video without ads, the pattern is slightly different. West is the region where people are most likely to pay to view ad-free.

Across all three services, only the Midlands and Northern Ireland are consistently less likely than average to pay to view without ads, while only the Welsh are consistently more likely to view without ads.

Ads or no ads, viewers differ little on age and gender

So, we know where these ad-tier viewers are, but what are they like? In terms of age and gender, there is remarkably little difference between those viewing with or without ads, as chart two shows.

The main, but still marginal, difference is with viewers aged 55+. For Disney+ and Amazon, these viewers are more likely to view with ads, while on Netflix this group is more likely to view without ads.

Chart 2: Age and gender offer little clue as to a viewer’s likelihood to view with or without adsSource: Barb Establishment Survey Q3 2025. Excludes those who do not know the type of subscription they take

Content viewing shows some subtle differences

Taking the top 100 7-day programme audiences for each service from September to the first week of December for ad and ad-free viewers, at first glance the programme lists appear quite similar. Many of the same shows appear in a slightly different order, with audience sizes differing depending on the size of the with or without ads subscriber base.

For all three services, the biggest shows top the programme lists whether ads are present or not: Stranger Things for Netflix, Lilo & Stitch (2025) for Disney+ and Champions League football for Amazon Prime Video.

If we focus on Netflix, where the with or without ads subscriber bases are most equally split, there are some hints that the way viewers watch is different depending on the presence or lack of advertising. For example, there are 21 films in the top 100 for those viewing with ads, but only 18 for those viewing without.

There are also examples where those viewing with ads have not completed as much series viewing as those viewing without. Only episode one of Anne Rice’s Talamasca: The Secret Order appears in the top 100 for ad-supported viewers, while episodes one, two and three appear in the top 100 for those watching without ads.

This is not to say that those watching with ads do not reach the later episodes; rather that the audience for later episodes diminishes more quickly. On the ad tier, the audience for episode three is only 42% of the episode one audience. That figure for those watching without ads is 65%.

There are also some examples of late episode sampling for our ad-supported viewers. Squid Game: The Challenge series 2, episode 9 and Love Is Blind: UK series 2, episode 11 appear in the top 100 without other episodes from the same series.

Whilst these differences are subtle, and not always consistent, they may suggest that those viewing with ads are more likely to graze on content and watch more standalone items like films. Meanwhile, those watching without ads commit to series to a greater degree. This desire to get through a series may, at least in part, be fuelling their willingness to pay for an ad-free viewing experience.

Festive viewing on the up

Finally, a word on Christmas. As we move into December, viewing to festive programming is increasing, as you might expect. Chart 3 shows that minutes viewed across all channels and services to programmes with the words Christmas, jingle or Santa in the title are rising.

Chart 3: Viewing to festive titles increases as Christmas approachesSource: Barb. Viewing to programmes with the words: Christmas, jingle or Santa in the title. Total Identified Viewing. November 1st – December 14th 2025.

When we compare minutes viewed to festive content on Netflix where there are ads present or not, we can see the pattern of viewing matches the overall picture. We might think that those viewing without ads are a more festive audience, but that ignores the relative size of the ad and non-ad audience.

Chart 4: Ads on Netflix don’t dampen the appetite for Christmas viewing Source: Barb. Viewing to programmes with the words: Christmas, jingle or Santa in the title. Netflix ad tier viewers and non-ad tier viewers. November 1st – December 14th 2025.

Those viewing with ads represent 33% of minutes to festive content for the period in question, while they represent 32% of overall minutes on Netflix. That very slight over-index might show us that the ads are a welcome part of the festive viewing experience.

Doug Whelpdale, Head of Insight, Barb

Doug also shares some of these insights in the following video: