Advertising Monetization: The Core of Streaming Growth

In streaming, monetization isn’t just about subscriptions anymore. Audiences have evolved, and so have the ways to generate value from them. From AVOD and FAST to hybrid and transactional models, advertising monetization has become a strategic pillar for platforms looking to balance reach, engagement, and revenue.

According to Mordor Intelligence, the AVOD market is projected to grow from US$45.9 billion in 2025 to about $67.9 billion by 2030, underlining the value of intelligence in ad-supported video.

But not all advertising is equal. The difference between ad revenue and ad intelligence is the difference between showing ads and knowing what works.

Why is Advertising Monetization Central to Streaming?

Advertising gives you flexibility. According to Simon-Kucher’s Global Streaming Study 2025, ad tiers are now doubling across the streaming industry as platforms diversify their monetization strategies.

It’s the new way to acquire users who aren’t ready to pay for ad-free subscriptions, enabling monetization beyond paywalls and expanding reach through free or hybrid access models. For Netflix, that meant that, during August of this year, 45% of viewing happened on its ad tier, in comparison to 34% from last August, according to Marketing Brew.

Yet to make it sustainable, you need precision: understanding who watches, what they watch, and how ads perform in context.

From Ad Delivery to Ad Intelligence

Traditional ad measurement stops at impressions, completion rates, or clicks. But effective advertising monetization goes further into engagement, relevance, and retention. With intelligence-driven analytics, platforms can uncover:

• Viewability and completion rates that prove real exposure, not just delivery.
• Drop-off and skip analysis that highlight where the audience experience breaks.
• Correlations between ads and engagement or churn, balancing monetization with satisfaction.

This level of clarity turns ad data into a competitive advantage, letting you price, optimize, and sell inventory based on impact, not assumption.

Showing Advertisers the Value of Your Audience

Advertisers don’t want assumption either, they also want proof. To earn their confidence, you need to show not just that an ad was delivered, but who it reached and how it performed across audience segments.

As discussed at Streaming Media Santa Monica, that’s what advertisers want: access to this same intelligence to refine targeting and see crossover between segments. Because transparency builds trust, and when you and the advertisers share the same truth, advertising monetization becomes smarter for both sides.

The Power of Connected Intelligence

When advertising data lives alongside audience and content intelligence, it unlocks a new layer of value. That’s where Digital Experience Intelligence (DXI) comes in, elevating advertising from an operational layer to a growth engine that gives you clarity. It connect ad performance with content and audience behaviour so decisions are no longer made in isolation. 

You can now see how specific ad formats affect completion rates, discover which content drives the highest ad tolerance, and identify segments most likely to convert, all within the same unified view.

This holistic approach lets your monetization teams:

• Showcase the real value of their inventory to advertisers.
• Protect the viewer experience by avoiding fatigue or overload.
• Test, learn, and evolve faster using built-in A/B testing tools.

The result: more revenue, less churn, and ad strategies that grow with your audience.

Make every ad count

Advertising isn’t just part of monetization; it’s the bridge between audience engagement and business growth. The question isn’t how many ads you serve, it’s how intelligently you serve them.