The ads were timed on seven streaming services. Here’s who steals the most from your evening and which ad-free upgrade is worth it.
Prime Video doubled its ad load since launch. HBO Max went up and never announced it. But the service that feels the worst isn’t the one taking most of your time. Here are the stopwatch numbers and the one upgrade worth your $10 a month.
🤯 WOW! Time the ads on seven streaming services, and Prime Video wins, for all the wrong reasons. Ads eat eight minutes and 20 seconds of a two-hour movie, more than triple what it ran the day ads first showed up. HBO Max quietly bumped its own load and never sent a memo.
The Short Version: More interruptions don’t mean more ad time, so check the stopwatch times, then only pay extra to go ad-free on the one service eating the biggest chunk of your night. Numbers below.
📖 Read time: 2 minutes
ChatGPT/Kim Komando
I need your help: Add Komando.com as a preferred source on Google
When I saw these numbers, I knew I had to share with you. Somebody finally sat down with a stopwatch and timed seven streaming services, movies and shows both.
Here’s the ugly part first.
When Amazon put ads on Prime Video in January 2024, you got two to 3.5 minutes an hour. Now it’s four to six. HBO Max quietly went from about four minutes to six. Nobody sent an email. The only way anyone caught Max was by comparing its own help page against an archived copy.
And Netflix’s ad tier blew past 250 million users worldwide, up from 94 million a year earlier. Ads aren’t the budget option anymore. They’re the plan.
📺 The stopwatch numbers
- Two-hour movie, ad time: Prime Video, 8:20. Disney+, 7:45. Hulu, 7:30. Netflix, 4:45. Peacock, 3:12. HBO Max, 2:00. Paramount+, 2:00.
- Hour-long TV episode, ad time: Disney+, 8:30. Paramount+, 8:00. Prime Video, 6:00. Peacock, 5:45. HBO Max, 4:45. Hulu, 4:30. Netflix, 2:00.
Look at that flip.
Paramount+ is tied for best on movies and second worst on shows. Peacock pulls the same trick. The right service for you depends on what you watch, which is not how anybody shops for streaming.
Netflix interrupted a movie nine separate times, more than anyone. But each break ran 30 to 45 seconds, so it added under five minutes total. Prime Video stopped you four times and ate eight and a half. The service that feels worst isn’t the one stealing the most from your evening.
FYI, cable runs about 15 minutes an hour. Even the worst streamer here is half that. I’m not going to pretend otherwise.
💰 Run it against your own bill
Netflix with ads is $8.99. Ad-free is $19.99. That’s $11 a month to skip two minutes per episode. $132 a year.
Flip to Disney+ or Prime Video, where you’re losing eight-plus minutes an hour, and that $10 starts looking reasonable.
Pay to go ad-free on the one service you watch most. Leave the rest on the ad tier. Watch two hours a night on Disney+, and you’re handing over about nine hours a month to commercials. Your call to make, not theirs. Full breakdown is here.
One more move before you upgrade anything. Check your phone plan and your credit cards. Plenty of them include a streaming service.
My dreams have commercial breaks now.
📩 Send this to someone who complains about streaming ads every single night.
