Exploring the Real Savings: Are Ad-Supported Streaming Subscriptions Economical?

Quick Links

• Which Streaming Services Have Ad-Supported Plans?
• What is the Price Difference, Really?
• How Much Can You Save By Watching Ads?

We used to think that paying a service for its content was enough, but we were sweet summer children then. Now, all the big names in streaming on-demand are offering plans with ads inserted into their content. If you want to remove commercials, it’s going to cost you, but is it worth it?

Which Streaming Services Have Ad-Supported Plans?

Jason Montoya / How-To Geek

Most of us had come to terms with ads on apps like Hulu, where we were largely watching next-day content from major networks. These days, however, just about all the big streaming apps are adding new ad-supported plans or introducing ads in their base plans.

In most cases, it’s the former. Netflix , Disney+ , Max , Hulu, and Peacock created new ad-supported plans in the last few years. Amazon Prime Video, on the other hand, started adding commercials to its existing plans and notified users they’d need to pay more to remove them. However, many of the services that introduced cheaper ad-supported plans also raised prices for their ad-free offerings.

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What is the Price Difference, Really?

Ad-supported plans can be as much as $10 cheaper than ad-free plans on some platforms. If you’re a budget-conscious viewer, the savings could really start to add up, as the chart below demonstrates.

When it comes to Amazon Prime Video, we’ve included the price for Prime Video-only plans. The service is “free” with a regular Amazon Prime account, but you still have to pay $2.99 to remove ads as a Prime member.

| | Ad-Supported Plan | Ad-Free Plan | Price Difference | |
| ——————– | ———— | —————- | —— |
| Netflix | $6.99 | $15.49 | $8.50 |
| Disney+ | $7.99 | $13.99 | $6.00 |
| Hulu | $7.99 | $17.99 | $10.00 |
| Peacock | $5.99 | $11.99 | $6.00 |
| Max | $9.99 | $16.99 | $7.00 |
| Amazon Prime Video | $8.99 | $11.98 | $2.99 |

*All prices shown here are accurate as of June 2024

There are some pretty big margins here. You only save $3 with Amazon’s ad-supported plan, but Netflix and Hulu are near $10, while Disney+, Peacock, and Max are hovering around $6.

How Much Can You Save By Watching Ads?

If you have every service in the chart above, and you’re willing to watch ads, you can save $40.49 per month. For the year, this is about $485. Even for the most dedicated TV viewer or movie buff, it seems pretty worth it to sit through ads.

Of course, it becomes less of a burden if you only subscribe to a couple of services at a time. You’d only be paying $138 per year to avoid ads on Amazon Prime Video and Netflix combined, for example. That’s not nothing, but it may be worth it if you don’t want interruptions while streaming.