Hate the Ads on Paid Streaming Platforms? America Agrees with You.
Too many ads on popular streaming apps—and poorly timed ones—annoy viewers, according to a new CR survey
Until I started using ad-supported streaming services, yelling at the TV was an activity usually reserved for watching the New York Jets. My main gripes with these streaming services are that the ads are too repetitive and often pop up at the wrong moments during a program. (My issue with the Jets is entirely different.)
I recently found out I’m not alone. In April, Consumer Reports conducted a nationally representative survey of 2,183 adults in the U.S. about streaming service plans that let you pay a bit less each month in exchange for seeing ads. Lots of streaming platforms offer these lower-cost options, including Disney+, Hulu, and Netflix, and we found that 63 percent of Americans have signed up for them.
The result of our survey? An overwhelming majority of those customers find the ads annoying.
How Annoying Are the Ads?
Pretty darned annoying, according to our survey. It can make you yearn for those long-gone TiVo days, when you could fast-forward through ads, one of the best things about watching a show whenever you wanted. Amazon, Netflix, and other streaming platforms don’t let you do that. Just a few people who use ad-supported plans—3 percent—said the ads weren’t annoying at all. (No, I don’t get it, either.)
When's the Best Time to See Ads?
If they’re going to have to sit through ads, the largest number of people with these plans would prefer to see them bunched at the beginning and end of their programs.
The least popular spots for ads were at set intervals, say every 10 minutes, regardless of what’s happening onscreen.
Several services are experimenting with AI to make ads less intrusive by placing them at optimal times in programming.
What Annoys You the Most About Ads?
We asked people who are annoyed by streaming ads to highlight the three worst aspects. There were two standouts. About half of them said the same ads repeated too often—hear that, Mr. Goldblum?—while 45 percent didn’t think there should be any ads at all in a service they’re already paying for.
How Much More Would You Pay to Skip Ads?
Not much, it turns out. About 3 in 10 people with ad-supported services said they’d pay a bit more to go ad-free—but only if the extra cost was less than 5 bucks a month. And far more people weren’t willing to pay any more at all. After all, if you subscribe to a few of these services, your monthly bill could easily be $30 to $50 a month, or even more, even with ads. For many people, that’s more than enough.
BEST TIME TO BUY:
