Netflix Announces New Ad Tier With Massive Active Viewers

By Lee Freitag

Netflix has done away with the “monthly active users (MAU)” metric, which is widely used across ad-supported streaming, and has switched to capturing viewership as “monthly active viewers (MAV),” which it defines as subscribers watching at least one minute of ads on Netflix per month, multiplied by how many people are watching in a given household. “Our move to viewers means we can give a more comprehensive count of how many people are actually on the couch, enjoying our can’t-miss series, films, games and live events with friends and family,” the company explained in a blog post, via Deadline.

With a new metric comes a new viewership milestone, as Netflix has reported that it now reaches more than 190 million MAVs on its ad-supported tier. Given the metric change, it’s hard to know exactly how big a jump that is from the 94 million MAUs Netflix stated it had back in May, although the streamer did note that MAUs were tied to account profiles and therefore undercounted co-viewing, a factor that the new MAV metric addresses.

Netflix Has Offered an Ad-Tier Since 2022

Despite being initially against advertising, as competition in the streaming market grew, Netflix announced plans for an ad-tier in 2022, which was rolled out that November. With the three-year mark having just passed, Netflix is gearing up for an even bigger 2026, with the company currently testing out a new interactive video ad format in North America that is geared to each subscriber’s individual viewing behaviour. This new format has reportedly been well-received and will be rolled out globally by Q2 2026.

Netflix remains the biggest streaming service in the world, with an estimated 302 million subscribers. Despite facing stiffer competition now than it did during its first decade as a streaming service, Netflix has continued to grow its subscriber base by offering several crowd-pleasing and/or award-winning original series like House of Cards, Stranger Things, The Witcher, and Squid Game. The company has also been able to attract top-tier talent to its platform, such as television powerhouses Shonda Rhimes (Grey’s Anatomy, Bridgerton) and Ryan Murphy (Glee, Monster, Ratched).

Upcoming movies that Netflix subscribers will want to keep an eye out for include the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood sequel The Adventures of Cliff Booth, Greta Gerwig’s Narnia reboot The Magician’s Nephew, and Brad Bird’s long-gestating animated passion project Ray Gunn. On the TV side, subscribers have new seasons of Stranger Things, Virgin River, Outer Banks, and Bridgerton to look forward to, as well as a live-action take on Scooby-Doo, a new adaptation of Little House on the Prairie, and an Assassin’s Creed series.