How Many Ads Do You Get On The New Netflix Ad-Supported Tier

With the release of the new ad-supported tier from Netflix, one may ask, is it worth the price? In this review we will explore the frequency, type, length on TV and Movies both Netflix created and acquired content.

Kids TV and Movies

Before the Ad-Supported Netflix release the streaming service shared a similar sentiment with their fellow competitors that no ads would be placed on children’s content. While this is a given for the ‘Kid’s’ only profiles for the service, does it work that way on non-age restricted profiles?

To test this an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants (TV-Y) and the Movie Matilda (PG) were watched, both with different age ratings. Neither showed ads through the runtime of 23 minutes and an hour and 38 minutes.

Netflix Originals

Next up is determining the difference between the frequency of ads for Netflix Originals vs. other movies and TV Shows. For this the movie Dayshift and the Netflix mini series Killer Sally. Although the ads are touted to be ‘targeted’ they so far have only contained fast food restaurants and a non-applicable insurance company.

Day Shift a Netflix original movie starring Jamie Foxx and Snoop Dog, the almost 2 hour basic vampire flick contains no ads through the entirety of the 1 hour and 53 minutes with a miniscule 30 second ad before the runtime begins.

The second Netflix Original movie to observe was Lou and much like Day Shift there was no ads throughout the entire 1 hour and 43 minutes except for the 30 second ad before the start of the movie.

Killer Sally is a limited series with three episodes for a total run time of 2 hours and 48 minutes with a total of 4 minutes of Ad time. With this breakdown it shows that the ads are placed heavily on the intermediate episode, with a 45% increase from the initial episode and a reduction back to 0 for the finale. If bingeing this mini series and discussing it in terms of a long movie – 4 minutes is rather low.

Licensed Content

Now that we have looked at Kid’s and Netflix Original content and how the ad’s impact the watchability, it’s time to look at the licensed content and how it compares.

The first movie was White Chicks a 2004 Comedy (PG-13) had zero ads throughout the 1 hour and 49 minute runtime including before the movie started, it is worth to note that this particular movie is a only available until November 30th.

The second movie The Firm a thriller starring Tom Cruise has a runtime of 2 hours and 34 minutes, a breakdown of the ads will show that there are about 2 minutes worth of Ads which is incredibly low.

The last movie watched is Blade II a vampire romp with a runtime of 1 hour and 57 minutes which displayed one ad before the movie started (30 seconds) and then at 28 minutes in 2 ads (60 seconds) which equals 1 minute and 30 seconds.

Is it worth the price?

After going through a bunch of different content it seems that the volume and frequency of ads is lower than the presumed 4 minutes per 60 minute run time. There seems to be no obvious trend when accounting for length of video or licensing as seen when comparing Netflix Originals to acquired movies. When looking at cable that provides 18 minutes worth of Ads for 60 minutes there is little competition, for the most part the average 1-2 hour movie/TV show contained about 56 seconds.

Although slightly cheaper, there is also less content due to licensing issues right now. For me, it makes more sense to purchase the basic tier and at least get all the content. If you want to fully unlock Netflix consider purchasing Express VPN. This will allow you to access content from other countries!

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