The percentage of U.S. TV watchers who say they use a free, ad-supported streaming service like Roku Channel, Pluto TV or Freevee ticked up 9 points to 55% in the first five months of 2022, according to a survey of 3,004 U.S. consumers conducted by Hub Entertainment Research.
Meanwhile, the percentage of those who report using a partially ad-supported tier of a subscription streaming service, including Peacock, Hulu or HBO Max, ticked up four points to 42% over that same span.
Hub's "TV Advertising: Fact vs. Fiction" hammers away at an increasingly tired talking point -- that we are in an era in which bundling a critical mass of ad-free subscription services is approaching three figures -- and the price of the traditional cable bundle -- consumers are willing to watch a few ads to save their bottom lines.
"With reasonable ad loads, more relevant targeting, and a quid-pro quo agreement (watch ads, pay less), the industry seems finally to have an answer to the question that has dogged it for years: how to get consumers to accept TV advertising,” said Peter Fondulas, principal at Hub and co-author of the study.
Whether there's enough total revenue in advanced advertising to support this notion for all the SVOD, AVOD, FAST and vMVPD services that need it to be true? Debatable.
But Hub's report suggests that users of ad-subsidized subscription services get nearly as much -- or in some cases, more -- value out of partial-ad tiers.
Generally speaking, users of subscription streaming services with ads believe their ad loads are "reasonable."
So what's a reasonable amount of advertising? Generally, five or fewer commercials per hourlong show, with each ad load spanning no more than 30 seconds.
