The price for commercial time on streaming TV platforms was the talk of this year’s upfront ad haggle. The launch of ads on Amazon’s Prime Video, as well as general growth in subscribers across most premium platforms, gave media buyers leverage to negotiate lower costs in the historically pricey space, buyers previously told Ad Age.

The result was a flattening out of CPMs (the cost per 1,000 viewers reached) across top streamers compared to last year, when platforms such as Disney+, Hulu, Peacock, Paramount+, Max and Netflix charged disparate amounts.

Like Ad Age’s TV Pricing Chart, this inaugural Streaming CPM Chart is created by averaging pricing from as many as four media-buying agencies. The reported CPM is meant to be a directional indicator rather than the actual price paid by every advertiser. These prices are also often dependent on an agency’s broader deal and historical relationship with the media company, and will vary accordingly.

Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, Netflix, Paramount, NBCUniversal, Amazon and Fox declined to comment on prices.

Year over year, the average CPM for Netflix declined the most, down 32% from $54.78 to $37.02 during this year’s upfront. This is also a significant decrease from Netflix’s ad tier launch pricing in November 2022, which was, in some cases, north of $60, Ad Age reported at the time. 

Disney+, which also launched its ad tier in late 2022, saw a 25% decrease in pricing, from $38.68 to $29.04, while CPMs for Hulu decreased 15%, from $27.74 to $23.59. Much of this year’s discussions around streaming prices were concentrated around Disney, with some buyers saying they saw even larger pricing rollbacks of up to 40%.

WBD’s Max, NBCU’s Peacock and Paramount’s Paramount+ each saw CPM decreases of around 15% in this year’s upfront, although Max’s average CPM is higher at $32.26, while Peacock and Paramount+ averaged CPMs around $26.

Prime Video launched ads in January 2024 and therefore doesn’t have a 2023 upfront comparison. Its CPM in this year’s upfront is also a modest decrease from launch, which was approximately $30, Ad Age previously reported.

CPMs for free ad-supported platforms such as Fox’s Tubi and Paramount’s Pluto TV declined alongside the subscription-based platforms. While the average 2023 CPM for both were similar—$20.87 for Tubi and $19.08 for Pluto TV—pricing for Pluto TV decreased by 23% in this year’s upfront compared to Tubi’s 14% decline.

Read about Tubi’s marketing strategy

Media executives previously told Ad Age the pricing reset could negatively impact the market in the short term as streamers seek to make up for lower revenue, potentially by increasing ad loads. But buyers see long-term benefits for streaming ad growth as the newly aligned prices will allow advertisers to plan spend based on which platforms deliver their goals most effectively rather than solely by which platform is offering the best price.

As streaming inventory continues to increase and tech capabilities mature, advertisers continue to shift spend with parent media companies from linear to streaming. One media buyer attributed recent plummets in broadcast primetime pricing to growth in streaming, a trend they anticipate to continue in the years to come.