--- title: "What Is an Ad-Supported Tier? Definition and Examples | RentAnOTT" description: "An ad-supported tier is a free or cheaper streaming plan that shows advertising. See how to price it against your ad-free plan and what it earns." url: "https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/ad-supported-tier" markdown_url: "https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/ad-supported-tier.md" category: "Monetization" updated: "2026-10-05" --- # What is an ad-supported tier? An ad-supported tier is a plan on a streaming service that is free or priced below the standard plan because the viewer watches advertising. The service earns from the advertiser as well as, or instead of, the viewer. ## How an ad-supported tier works The tier sits alongside the ad-free plan. Viewers on it see ad breaks before and during titles; viewers on the higher plan do not. Everything else, such as the apps and the account, is shared. - Free with ads: no payment, the widest reach, revenue from advertising only - Paid with ads: a lower subscription price plus advertising revenue ## What an ad-supported tier earns Revenue per viewer is the subscription price, if any, plus ad revenue: viewing hours multiplied by ads per hour, fill rate and CPM, divided by 1,000. A paid tier with ads can earn as much per viewer as the ad-free plan once advertising is counted. That only holds if viewers watch enough hours and enough of the ad requests are filled. ## Designing the tier - Keep the price gap wide enough that the choice is obvious - Limit ad load so that the tier is still pleasant to watch - Differentiate on more than ads: video quality, downloads or simultaneous streams - Decide whether every title is in the tier, or only the older part of the catalog ## Ad-supported tier on RentAnOTT AVOD and SVOD are included on every RentAnOTT plan, so a free or cheaper ad-supported tier can sit beside an ad-free plan on one catalog. Advanced advertising, with deeper targeting, frequency control and ad reporting, is a $169/month add-on. [See pricing](https://www.rentanott.com/pricing). ## Related terms - [AVOD](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/avod) — AVOD (advertising-based video on demand) is a streaming model where viewers watch on-demand video for free and the service earns from the ads shown before, during or after it. - [HVOD](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/hvod) — HVOD (hybrid video on demand) is a streaming model that combines two or more ways of earning, most often a subscription and advertising, on the same service and catalog. - [Subscription tier](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/subscription-tier) — A subscription tier is one of the plans a streaming service offers at a given price. Tiers differ in what the subscriber gets, such as video quality, simultaneous streams, downloads, the catalog included or whether ads are shown. - [Freemium streaming](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/freemium) — Freemium streaming is a model in which a service offers part of its catalog or features for free, with or without ads, and charges a subscription for the full experience. The free tier exists to bring viewers in; the paid tier is where most revenue comes from. - [Ad load](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/ad-load) — Ad load is the amount of advertising shown per hour of viewing, expressed either as minutes of ads per hour or as the number of ads per hour. It is the main lever an ad-supported service has over both revenue and viewer tolerance. - [CPM](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/cpm) — CPM (cost per mille) is the price an advertiser pays for one thousand ad impressions. It is the standard unit for pricing video advertising, and the rate a streaming service earns for each thousand ads it shows. - [Fill rate](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/fill-rate) — Fill rate is the percentage of ad requests that are answered with an ad. If a service requests 1,000 ads and receives 700, its fill rate is 70%. Unfilled requests earn nothing. - [Hybrid monetization](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary/hybrid-monetization) — Hybrid monetization is the practice of running more than one revenue model on a single streaming service, such as subscriptions, advertising, rentals, purchases and in-app currency, so that each viewer can pay in the way they prefer. ## Further reading - [OTT subscription plans and tiers](https://www.rentanott.com/blogs/ott-subscription-plans) - [OTT revenue calculator](https://www.rentanott.com/tools/ott-revenue-calculator) - [Content monetization platforms compared](https://www.rentanott.com/blogs/content-monetization-platforms) ## Frequently asked questions ### Is an ad-supported tier the same as AVOD? A free ad-supported tier is AVOD. A paid tier that also shows ads is a hybrid of SVOD and AVOD, sometimes called HVOD. ### How many ads should an ad-supported tier show? Fewer than broadcast television. Streaming viewers are used to short breaks, so start low and raise ad load only while watch time and retention hold. ### Will subscribers downgrade to the cheaper tier? Some will. Whether that costs you depends on ad revenue per viewer in that tier. Track revenue per viewer for each tier, not just subscription income. All 163 terms: [Streaming and OTT glossary](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary). ## Book a demo Tell RentAnOTT what you are launching. The team walks through the platform and maps the path to go-live around your catalog, markets and revenue model. Book a demo: https://www.rentanott.com/contact ## More from RentAnOTT - [Home](https://www.rentanott.com/index.md) — What RentAnOTT is, what every plan includes, and how launch works - [Features](https://www.rentanott.com/features.md) — Every core feature and optional add-on - [Pricing](https://www.rentanott.com/pricing.md) — Platform tiers, apps, add-ons, usage rates and example bills in INR and USD - [Free tools](https://www.rentanott.com/tools.md) — OTT app builder and calculators for streaming revenue, bandwidth, bitrate and pricing - [Insights](https://www.rentanott.com/blogs.md) — All streaming business articles - [Glossary](https://www.rentanott.com/glossary.md) — Definitions of streaming and OTT terms - [Book a demo](https://www.rentanott.com/contact.md) — Talk to RentAnOTT about your launch Full site in one file: https://www.rentanott.com/llms-full.txt