Newsletter
A new report from Kill The Cable Bill crunched some numbers and found that Netflix viewers avoided having to watch a whole ton of ads while they were locked up during quarantine.
How many ads? That’s a good question. And one that KTCB has gladly laid out. In total, it would seem that Netflix viewers avoided having to watch a total of 58 hours of ads during this time.
This is based on a report from back in May which clocked in how many hours a day people were streaming shows on the platform. That amount of daily viewing is then paired with how many minutes of ads that would typically be included if this were normal TV programming. Which is then spread out over the amount of time the quarantine has lasted.
Netflix viewers skipped about 58 minutes of ads during quarantine
According to the numbers, those streaming on Netflix were able to skip 58 minutes of ads a day.
The May report found that users were watching more Netflix shows during the quarantine. About 3.2 hours a day compared to 2 prior to quarantine. That 3.2 hours on normal programming would have included almost an hour’s worth of ads or commercials.
The quarantine lasted for about two months. So 58 minutes a day over a two-month period amounts to about 58 hours. 58.9 hours if you do the math and calculate out 58 minutes each day for 61 days. Which is all of April and all of May combined.
This is also an estimate of numbers and doesn’t necessarily account for every single Netflix subscriber. Still, it puts into perspective just how many commercials or ads a user is subjected to over a normal daily viewing period.
Viewing habits of the average user will change
Now that quarantine is essentially over for most US subscribers, the viewing habits will no doubt change.
It’s too soon to tell how much the daily viewership might drop. But it will certainly drop because many people are going to be allowed to go back to work. Especially with businesses opening back up over the past week or two.
If there’s anything to take away from all this, it’s that TV viewers likely don’t care for ads or commercials. And Netflix gives its subscribers a way to completely avoid having to watch them.
Of course Netflix isn’t the only streaming service that has ad-free viewing. Hulu has an ad-free option which costs more per month. HBO Max technically doesn’t have ads or commercials, but it does play a small clip that highlights a bunch of its other programming before some shows. There are no ads during the episodes however.
The point is that people aren’t in love with ads. And they’re willing to pay to not have to see them.