Here’s What You Should Know

Netflix says it will serve around four to five minutes of 15-30 second ads per hour, played before, during, and after a show. That’s around the same chunk of ad time served up by streaming competitors like HBO Max, Peacock, and Discovery+ which refer to these breaks as, “light ad loads.”

The amount of individual ads per hour are also relatively consistent among streamers, with one exception, according to recent MediaRadar data shared with MarketingBrew. HBO Max, Discovery+, and Hulu, per that report, shared 7.4, 7, and 11.1 ads respectively per hour while Paramount+ served a much higher 26.8 ads per hour. Though Netflix hasn’t provided definitive figures here, it’s probably safe to assume their ads per hour would closely follow that first set of streamers.

It’s worth noting that all of those are all still a decent chunk less than the estimated 12 minutes worth of ads per hour typically served by basic cable, according to data in 2019 from MoffettNathanson viewed by FastCompany.

All that’s to say that while it may feel like streaming is starting to look an awful lot like the television of yesteryear with ads and a cornucopia of channels, streaming users still overall appear to have less of an appetite for lengthy advertising breaks cutting up their viewing experience.

Netflix says it will serve around four to five minutes of 15-30 second ads per hour, played before, during, and after a show. That’s around the same chunk of ad time served up by streaming competitors like HBO Max, Peacock, and Discovery+ which refer to these breaks as, “light ad loads.”

The amount of individual ads per hour are also relatively consistent among streamers, with one exception, according to recent MediaRadar data shared with MarketingBrew. HBO Max, Discovery+, and Hulu, per that report, shared 7.4, 7, and 11.1 ads respectively per hour while Paramount+ served a much higher 26.8 ads per hour. Though Netflix hasn’t provided definitive figures here, it’s probably safe to assume their ads per hour would closely follow that first set of streamers.

It’s worth noting that all of those are all still a decent chunk less than the estimated 12 minutes worth of ads per hour typically served by basic cable, according to data in 2019 from MoffettNathanson viewed by FastCompany.

All that’s to say that while it may feel like streaming is starting to look an awful lot like the television of yesteryear with ads and a cornucopia of channels, streaming users still overall appear to have less of an appetite for lengthy advertising breaks cutting up their viewing experience.