If you feel like you’re watching commercials with TV in between — instead of the other way around — you’re not alone.
Streaming advertising loads have increased this year as consumers flock to cheaper, ad-supported plans in the face of steady streamflation.
Ad minutes per hour rose 18% on top streamers in the US from January to August, according to data from entertainment research firm Ampere Analysis shared exclusively with Business Insider.
“Everyone is trying to squeeze more value out of existing subscribers, because it’s become so much harder and so much more expensive, in terms of cost of customer acquisition, to keep growing,” said Brandon Katz, an analyst at entertainment data firm Greenlight Analytics.
Ad loads have increased on all but one of the streamers in Ampere’s analysis. Of the nine most-viewed streaming services, as measured by Nielsen’s US ratings, only Prime Video showed users fewer minutes of ads per hour last month than it did at the start of the year, Ampere found.
Streamers showed audiences just over five minutes of ads per hour on average in August, according to Ampere. (The research firm said it changed how it tracks ad loads at the start of this year, which makes comparisons to prior years difficult.)
Netflix had the biggest ad load increase from January to August, though it still shows the fewest ads per hour of any major streamer at less than 2.5 minutes per hour.
By contrast, Paramount+ shows the most ads per hour on average, Ampere found. It’s showing 9 minutes of ads per hour, which means fans of Taylor Sheridan shows like “Landman” are spending about 15% of their viewing time watching commercials.
Disney’s streamers are next on the list, showing between 7.5 and 8.5 minutes per hour across Disney+ and Hulu, respectively.
There isn’t a significant correlation between streamers’ ad-tier price and average ad loads, Business Insider found.
Ad-vancing streaming profits
The additional ads that audiences are seeing on streamers come amid a profit push among Hollywood giants.
“Management teams are now being pushed by investors to show how they will capture the largest possible share of streaming retail value and advertising revenue, at the highest defensible long-term margin,” Hernan Lopez, the founder of media consultancy Owl & Co., wrote in an early September report.
Every major streaming service has raised prices in the past 12 months in hopes of getting subscribers to either pay more or trade down to an ad plan.
Streamers with scaled ad businesses can charge higher rates to advertisers than those with few users. And although ad-supported plans cost less, they can generate more revenue per user than pricier tiers.
“Once you reach scale, ad-supported tiers are more lucrative than ad-free tiers,” Katz said.
About 11% of subscribers to ad-supported streamers as of the first quarter had switched from more expensive ad-free plans, according to subscription data firm Antenna, up from 7% in 2024.
Ad-supported streamers, including free services, have become increasingly popular as paid services continue to hike prices.
Ad plans generated 4 million net sign-ups in the first quarter, while ad-free plans actually had more cancellations than sign-ups, according to Antenna. Nearly 60% of streaming users pick ad plans when signing up, the firm found.
Consumers are “more than willing to tolerate ads” if they can watch their favorite shows for less, said Mike Proulx, a research director at Forrester. As streamers have raised prices, TV fans have gone from primarily having ad-free services to mixing in ad-tier subscriptions.
“They’re balancing out their streaming portfolio,” Proulx said.
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