Remember when one of the big selling points of streaming was that it meant you weren't seeing ads?
Netflix, which had insisted for years that it wasn't interested in advertising, is the most noteworthy pivot, but other streamers that launched ad-free, like Max/HBO Max and Disney+, have added ads to the mix as well.
And now, as streamers and customers get more comfortable with the proposition — and as streamers come under increasing pressure to deliver revenue and profits, instead of just subscriber growth — comes the next step: jamming more ads onto your screen.
This chart, using data from advertising research firm MediaRadar, shows you how ad loads — the amount of ad minutes per hour — have increased for many streamers over the past two years.
It's also worth noting that several of these streamers are either owned or controlled by the same corporate entity (Disney+/Hulu, Max/Discovery+, Paramount+/Pluto) and may end up actually folded into each other sooner or later.
Disclosure: Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Business Insider's parent company, Axel Springer, is a Netflix board member.
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