Advertising revenues for the wider online video streaming market, which includes subscription video services, ad-supported streaming platforms, short-form video and social video, overtook subscription revenues as the lead revenue driver in 2025.

Just over $140 billion was generated from ads on video streaming platforms, with the majority coming from free services such as YouTube, TikTok and Meta Reels. Meta revealed its Reels platform surpassed $50 billion revenue run rate late last year, and YouTube brought in over $40 billion in 2025 from ads alone.

Video streaming revenue by type 2025 (%)

Ads have also become a more prominent part of Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and other subscription services. According to Netflix, a majority of new signups are for the ad-supported subscription tier in countries where it is available. We estimate that about 18 percent of revenue from the subscription services came from ads last year.

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The video streaming market grew by close to 20 percent in 2025, reaching revenues of $279 billion. Most of the key players had a strong year of growth, with both free and premium services reporting an acceleration in ad spend. While the premium side had a 13 percent increase in revenues, the free services had more than double that with revenues rising from $99 billion to $126 billion.

Video streaming app revenue 2018 to 2025 ($bn)

There were about 850 million households subscribed to video streaming services in 2025, with the average household typically subscribed to more than one. In terms of total video streaming users, this surpassed 4.4 billion in 2025.

Downloads for video streaming apps fell off quite heavily in 2025, down to 4.2 billion the lowest figure since 2019. TikTok and Instagram both had down years for installs, with chatbots stealing the limelight from social apps.