Blue Tiger Engage September 2025
BT Engage: September Newsletter
Welcome to Blue Tigers monthly newsletter Engage, bringing you all the latest news, trends and updates from across the media landscape. In this month’s edition we look at the major news stories that captured the headlines as we head into Autumn.
Instagram Hits 3 Billion Users With Focus on Video, Messaging
Instagram has grown to 3 billion monthly active users, according to announcements by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram Head Adam Mosseri.
This is a notable milestone for the Meta-owned platform, which hit 1 billion users back in 2018.
“If you look at the last few years, almost all of our growth has been driven by DMs, Reels, and recommendations,” Mosseri said in an Instagram video. “Because of that, we’re going to continue to focus on those products and reorient the app more around DMs, Reels, and recommendations over the next couple of months.”
While the emphasis on short-form video and recommendations from accounts users don’t follow has driven growth on Instagram, these changes have sparked some frustration among users who are more interested in seeing photos or other content from people they already know.
In the next few months, Mosseri said, Instagram will test a way for users to fine-tune the algorithm that recommends content on Reels — later, this feature may extend to other feeds on Instagram.
In contrast, TikTok, owned by Chinese technology behemoth ByteDance, has more than 1 billion users globally who visit monthly, a company spokesperson said earlier this month.
Channel 4 Debuts First Streaming-Only Channels On Freely
Channel 4 is launching three new streaming channels exclusively on Freely – the first time the broadcaster has created channels that only exist on the new streaming platform.
The three new offerings – 4Reality, 4Homes, and 4Life – went live on the 24th September on the broadband-based TV service, giving Freely users access to curated programming that you can’t get on traditional Freeview or Freesat.
It’s another step in Channel 4’s shift away from linear broadcasting and towards becoming a streaming-focused service by 2030.
The new channels are essentially FAST channels – Free Ad-supported Streaming Television. Unlike on-demand services where you choose what to watch, FAST channels work just like traditional TV with scheduled programming running continuously.
You tune in to whatever’s currently showing, complete with advert breaks, but delivered through your internet connection rather than an aerial.
The three channels each focus on different aspects of Channel 4’s programming catalogue, essentially creating themed streams of content that would normally be scattered across various time slots.
These streaming channels are part of Channel 4’s “Fast Forward” plan – their attempt to transform into what they call “the world’s first public service streamer” by 2030.
They’ve already found considerable success on YouTube, where their main channel and spin-offs like Channel 4.0 have racked up millions of views. Channel 4.0 alone has gained 2.5 million subscribers in less than three years, with 85% of viewers under 34.
Interestingly, Channel 4 already runs a “4Reality” channel on YouTube, so there may be some overlap in content between the streaming and social media versions – though the Freely channel will likely offer longer-form programming suited to the traditional TV viewing experience.
They’ve also launched other YouTube channels like “Channel 4 Served” for food content and “A Comedy Thing by Channel 4″ for original comedy programming, showing how they’re experimenting with different ways to slice up their content for digital audiences.
The broadcaster has been steadily moving away from traditional television, shutting down linear channels like the Box music channels and focusing increasingly on digital platforms.
Ad Tiers Continue to Drive Netflix and Disney+ Growth in the UK
New IPA data shows that the total reach of ad-supported subscription tiers on paid streaming services has tripled over the past year. But this growth has coincided with the launch of ads on Amazon Prime Video, which immediately achieved significant scale thanks to Amazon’s tactic of switching all users onto the ads tier by default.
New data from Barb’s Establishment Survey helps complete the picture, showing that it’s not just Prime Video driving growth. Ad-supported tiers on both Netflix and Disney+ continue to grow at pace, with Netflix’s ads tier coming close to reaching 20 percent of UK households.
Barb’s Establishment Survey tracks uptake of subscription video on-demand (SVOD) services across the UK, covering any streaming apps which reach more than five percent of UK households.
The latest data, from Q2 this year, shows growth across the market as a whole — something which hasn’t always been a given in recent years. In Q2, 20.6 million UK homes — or 69.7 percent of households — were signed up to at least one SVOD service. This was an increase of half a million over Q1.
Netflix and Disney both contributed significantly to this growth. Total Netflix subscriptions rose from 17.4 million households to 17.6 million in Q2, while Disney increased its reach from 7.3 million homes to 7.6 million over the same period.
In both cases, the ad tiers saw a net gain in subscribers, and offset net falls in ad-free tiers. Netflix’s ads tier reached 5.5 million households in Q2, up by around 700,000, while Disney’s reached 2.1 million homes, roughly 400,000 more than the previous quarter.
Much has been said about Amazon’s decision to default existing subscribers onto its ads tier when it first launched its ad-supported product. But it seems that new subscribers are opting for ads too. Amazon’s ads tier added 300,000 new households between Q1 and Q2, roughly the same as total growth in Prime Video’s UK reach.
Comparing the figures to last year, we see substantial growth for both Netflix and Disney’s ad offerings. In Q2 2024, Netflix’s ads tier reached just under 2.8 million UK households, meaning its reach has nearly doubled in the past year.
Disney’s ad-supported subscription, meanwhile, reached 0.82 million UK homes in Q2 last year, meaning it’s clocked more than 2.5x growth in the past year.
The figures suggest that both Netflix and Disney+’s efforts to scale up their ads businesses are bearing fruit (while perhaps also validating Amazon’s much speedier approach). But total reach is just part of the equation.
Comparing the figures to last year, we see substantial growth for both Netflix and Disney’s ad offerings. In Q2 2024, Netflix’s ads tier reached just under 2.8 million UK households, meaning its reach has nearly doubled in the past year. Disney’s ad-supported subscription, meanwhile, reached 0.82 million UK homes in Q2 last year, meaning it’s clocked more than 2.5x growth in the past year.
The figures suggest that both Netflix and Disney+’s efforts to scale up their ads businesses are bearing fruit (while perhaps also validating Amazon’s much speedier approach). But total reach is just part of the equation.
All three of the major SVOD services have kept ad loads fairly light so far, in an effort to tempt users onto the ads tier. But to continue scaling their ad offerings, they may need to up their ad loads in time.
The question is whether they can do so without putting off their audiences. Introducing ads has so far proven successful at helping the streamers retain customers looking to cut costs, without sacrificing average revenue per user (ARPU). But if higher volumes of ads make the ad tiers less attractive, subscribers could choose to leave completely rather than opting for the cheaper subscription tier.
Sources:
Bloomberg, Tech Crunch, Video Week, Adexchanger, The Drum, Marketing Week, Campaign
