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NetflixThe cheaper, ad-supported tier has amassed 40 million monthly active users worldwide, the company said Wednesday.
That's almost double the 23 million the streaming giant shared in January.
In addition, Netflix announced that it would launch its own advertising platform and no longer partner with Microsoft for that technology. The tech giant will remain a programmatic advertising partner.
Netflix introduced the ad-supported subscription in November 2022 as part of a broader effort to boost revenue amid slowing subscriber growth. That strategy included a crackdown on password sharing last year.
The company said Wednesday that 40% of all signups in countries where the ad tier is available will be for that cheaper plan. Netflix now has a total of 270 million subscribers.
The monthly active ad level user numbers come just a month after Netflix told investors it would no longer provide quarterly subscriber number updates. The company said at the time that it was generating significant profits and free cash flow and that membership numbers were not the only factor in the company's growth. It said the metric lost meaning after it started offering multiple price points for memberships.
The increase in ad users comes as the linear TV audience shrinks and traditional media companies try to gain a foothold in the streaming world. Netflix has established itself as a leader in this segment as many other companies struggle to make their streaming platforms profitable.
Its main competitors have far fewer subscribers than Netflix. In its first-quarter earnings report, Comcast said its streaming platform Peacock had 34 million subscribers.
This is a breaking news story. Check back later for updates.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.
