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Netflix said its ad-supported plan had reached 23 million global monthly active users (MAUs) in January 2024. That figure counts people who used the ad tier during a month; it is not a count of paid subscriptions or households. Netflix later reported 40 million ad-tier MAUs in May 2024, so 23 million is a historical milestone, not the latest figure in the available announcements.
What Netflix’s 23 million figure means
Netflix management announced the 23 million figure on its January 23, 2024, Q4 earnings call, saying: “We’re now at 23 million MAUs, and we see that continuing to grow in the quarters ahead.” Netflix’s Q4 2023 earnings materials describe the measure as global monthly active users.
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An MAU is a person who used the plan during the month. It should not be read as 23 million paid subscribers, accounts, or unique households. The January announcement did not provide a geographic breakdown or establish how many users were new to Netflix versus people who switched from an ad-free plan.
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Netflix launched its ad-supported plan in November 2022. The company’s reported milestones show rapid growth in its monthly active audience:
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| Announcement date | Reported ad-plan audience | What the figure represents |
|---|---|---|
| November 1, 2023 | 15 million global MAUs | Netflix’s reported audience one year after launch. Netflix announcement. |
| January 2024 | 23 million global MAUs | Monthly active users reported on the Q4 2023 earnings call. Netflix earnings materials. |
| May 15, 2024 | 40 million global MAUs | Netflix said the figure was up from 5 million a year earlier. Netflix’s Upfront announcement. |
These are company-reported audience snapshots, not subscription totals. The later 40 million announcement also makes clear that Netflix’s ad-tier audience continued to grow after the January milestone.
What the milestone said about Netflix’s ad business
A large monthly audience gave advertisers a substantial pool of people they could potentially reach through Netflix’s ad-supported plan. Netflix’s May 2024 Upfront announcement said more than 40% of signups in countries where the plan was available came through the ads plan. That is a share of signups in those countries, not a global share of Netflix subscriptions.
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Netflix also named measurement and verification partners in its advertising offering, including Affinity Solutions, DoubleVerify, EDO, Integral Ad Science, iSpotTV, Kantar, Lucid, NCSolutions, Nielsen, and TVision. The list indicates an effort to support campaign measurement and verification; it does not, by itself, establish that every partner was available in every market or that a particular measurement product was used for every campaign.
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Reuters, citing Variety’s account of comments by Netflix advertising president Amy Reinhard at CES, reported that 85% of customers on ad-supported plans streamed more than two hours per day. This is a reported viewing-behavior statistic, separate from the 23 million MAU count; it does not mean that all 23 million users watched that much on a particular day.
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- Unlimited movies, TV shows, and more. Watch anywhere. Cancel anytime.
- Give the gift of entertainment so your friends and family can stream unlimited films and Netflix original series. Whether your loved one already has a Netflix account or they will be creating a new account, they can use a Netflix gift card toward their membership.
- No credit card is required to redeem a gift code.
- Codes are applied to your account as a gift balance. Gift codes can be added to any plan, regardless of the amount.
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How to compare Netflix’s figure with other services
Streaming companies use different audience measures, so an MAU figure cannot be directly compared with a subscriber or household count. A meaningful comparison needs to account for:
- Metric: monthly active users, paid subscriptions, households, or individual viewers.
- Reporting date: the figures need to cover comparable periods.
- Geography: the services may offer ad plans in different countries.
- Plan availability and price: both can affect who signs up and when.
- Plan changes: a reported ad-plan audience may include people who moved from an ad-free plan, not only new customers.
Because Netflix did not publish a verified split between new customers and plan switchers alongside the January number, the 23 million figure should be treated as the ad tier’s active audience—not as 23 million newly acquired paid households.
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- Unlimited movies, TV shows, and more. Watch anywhere. Cancel anytime.
- Give the gift of entertainment so your friends and family can stream unlimited films and Netflix original series. Whether your loved one already has a Netflix account or they will be creating a new account, they can use a Netflix gift card toward their membership.
- No credit card is required to redeem a gift code.
- Codes are applied to your account as a gift balance. Gift codes can be added to any plan, regardless of the amount.
- Redemption: Online
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- Unlimited movies, TV shows, and more. Watch anywhere. Cancel anytime.
- Give the gift of entertainment so your friends and family can stream unlimited films and Netflix original series. Whether your loved one already has a Netflix account or they will be creating a new account, they can use a Netflix gift card toward their membership.
- No credit card is required to redeem a gift code.
- Codes are applied to your account as a gift balance. Gift codes can be added to any plan, regardless of the amount.
- Redemption: Online
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
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