Ad-Supported Streaming Usage Picks Up Pace

According to a new report from Piplsay, 63 percent of Americans are currently using paid or free ad-supported streaming services.

Piplsay polled 27,800 Americans on streaming usage trends and found that 82 percent are watching content on OTT platforms, with 31 percent using a mix of premium and paid and free AVOD, 19 percent using ad-free platforms, 18 percent opting for paid ad-supported and 14 percent with free AVOD.

The survey also found that 60 percent have switched from ad-free to ad-supported in the last year—32 percent to some extent and 28 percent have made a complete switch.

As for how consumers feel about content offerings on ad-supported services, paid and free, 49 percent are very satisfied, 41 percent somewhat satisfied and 10 percent are not satisfied at all.

Of the streaming services with free tiers, Peacock emerged as the most preferred by 23 percent of respondents, followed by The Roku Channel (17 percent), Pluto TV (12 percent) and Tubi and IMDb TV with 11 percent each. Among paid ad-supported services, Hulu was out front with 34 percent, followed by HBO Max (26 percent), discovery+ (11 percent), Peacock (10 percent) and Paramount+ (7 percent).

More than half of those surveyed said they would switch to or subscribe back to premium ad-free services in the coming months.