The streaming advertising landscape now includes 10+ meaningful platforms, each with different audiences, pricing, targeting capabilities, and minimum budgets. This comparison cuts through the platform marketing and gives you the practical advertiser's view of who belongs where in a streaming media plan.
Hulu. 50+ million ad-supported users. CPMs: $30-60. Strongest targeting capabilities in streaming. Disney's first-party audience data combined with Hulu's streaming behavior creates the most precise audience segments available in streaming. Premium content (FX, ABC, Disney originals) drives high completion rates. Best for: audience-precision advertisers with $20,000+ monthly budgets.
Amazon Streaming TV (Freevee + Prime Video ads). 175 million ad-supported users reached through Prime Video's ad-supported tier. CPMs: $25-45. Unmatched e-commerce purchase data for targeting. If your product is sold on Amazon, the purchase intent targeting is genuinely differentiated. Best for: e-commerce advertisers, consumer goods, and brands that can connect streaming exposure to Amazon conversion.
Roku. 80+ million active accounts. CPMs: $20-45. Roku is a platform aggregator that owns significant ad-supported content (The Roku Channel) and sells advertising across its platform. Strong household-level identity resolution. Best for: advertisers who want to reach the device level across multiple apps and benefit from Roku's cross-app measurement.
Tubi. 80+ million monthly active users, 100% ad-supported. CPMs: $15-30. Best reach efficiency in streaming. Diverse and lower-income audience. Best for: mass-market consumer brands, QSR, value-positioned products. See full Tubi guide.
Peacock. 40+ million ad-supported users. CPMs: $25-55. NBCUniversal content strength (NFL, Olympics, NBC broadcast). Best for: sports-adjacent advertisers, 40+ audience targeting. See full Peacock guide.
Paramount+. 30+ million ad-supported users. CPMs: $25-50. CBS, MTV, Nickelodeon, and Paramount content. Strong for 35-55 audience and family-oriented segments. Sports content (NFL CBS games, March Madness) drives high-value inventory.
Disney+ (ad-supported tier). 40+ million ad-supported subscribers. CPMs: $40-70. Premium brand-safe environment. Disney, Marvel, Star Wars, ESPN+ content. Best for family-oriented and premium brand advertisers. Higher CPMs reflect premium content and brand safety guarantee.
For most advertisers with $20,000-100,000/month streaming budgets, the recommended starting point: one primary platform where you go deep (full audience and campaign optimization), and one secondary platform for incremental reach. Adding more than two platforms below $50,000/month spreads budget too thin for the algorithm to optimize on any single platform.
Start with the platform whose audience profile best matches your target. Use the platform's first-party research to validate that your audience is concentrated there before committing budget. Run a 60-day test before evaluating performance - streaming advertising requires time for frequency to build and attribution to accumulate.