(Credit: Thomas Fuller/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Netflix’s ad-supported tier is proving successful amid the cost-of-living crisis and households balancing price hikes across many streaming services, even though Netflix's ad-supported plan saw a $1 hike in March.
At its recent Upfront, Netflix's annual advertising event, the streamer confirmed it now has over 250 million viewers on its ad-supported tier, up from 190 million in November 2025.
Over 80% of ad-supported subscribers are actively watching Netflix every week, it says, and those on the ad tier are set to experience more ads, with plans to bring its ads to video podcasts and its new Clips vertical video feed in 2027.
Clips is a TikTok-like vertical video stream where users can scroll through excerpts from Netflix series, films, and specials, as well as trailers for upcoming titles. It's designed to help you find ideas for what to watch next. We don't yet know exactly how ads would work within Clips or podcasts. Netflix may choose to integrate ads into podcasts themselves, with hosts presenting the segment, or it may work like a typical TV commercial break within each episode.
Netflix also plans to introduce “personalized ad loads and frequency caps that dynamically adjust the ads our members see, based on their viewing behaviors.” Netflix hasn’t shared any more details about how this could work. The big question is whether streaming more on Netflix could result in fewer ads per episode or film.
Netflix will bring its ad-supported tier to 15 more countries next year: Austria, Belgium, Colombia, Denmark, Indonesia, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, and Thailand.
The latest price increase in the US came in March, when it raised the ad-supported tier by $1 and its traditional subscriptions by $2. The basic tier with no ads shot to $19.99 a month, while a premium tier for 4K viewing now costs $26.99.
These announcements come as Netflix faces a lawsuit in Texas focused on its introduction of an ad-supported tier. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton argues Netflix "omitted information about the scope of first-party behavioral logging that underpins ad measurement and failed to disclose details on who receives or can model against the data Netflix harvests."