One of My Favorite Streamers Forced Me to Go Ad-Supported and I Surprisingly Didn’t Hate It
When Peacock essentially gave me no choice but to accept commercials, I discovered a surprising fringe benefit to the experience.
Call me “new-fashioned,” but as someone who came of entertainment-viewing age in an era where the only ad-free options were HBO and other nascent premium cable channels, the advent of the streaming era promised something new and special: uninterrupted viewing. However, our collective TV-viewing needs have evolved, the pendulum has swung in the other direction and more people are embracing ad-supported streaming. Personally, I have never been that guy; I clung to the early promise that streaming would be ad-free and didn’t let go until I was forced to. While I do not see myself abandoning the commercial-free life completely, after having no choice but to use the ad-supported plan of one of my favorite streamers, I find that not only do the ads not bother me as much as I thought they would, but they also come with a very exciting fringe benefit.
As streaming has gotten more and more expensive, the costs associated with going ad-free have increased exponentially. This is partly because entertainment conglomerates launched their services at a loss to attract — and hopefully hook — customers, and also because they realized that the dual-revenue of subscription-based ad-supported plans have the opportunity to make even more money than the higher-cost ad-free plans do. This has led many TV consumers to choose ad-supported options at increasing rates, but that was not why I started streaming with commercials on one of my most-used services.
Perhaps because of the age in which I first became a TV lover or the fact that I work in the streaming industry, I sample ad-supported plans all the time, but I have never willingly picked an ad-supported plan for my personal use. However, one was picked for me back in May. This spring, Comcast announced a first-of-its-kind streaming bundle available only to customers of the company’s internet or cable services. With the StreamSaver bundle, you could put together subscriptions to Comcast’s cable and/or internet, Apple TV+, Netflix, and Peacock, as well as an option that included the company’s live TV streaming skinny-bundle service NOW TV.
While I do not have cable, Comcast is my internet service provider, so I decided to take advantage of the deal and bundle my existing subscriptions to Apple TV+, Netflix, and Peacock for just $15. However, there was a bit of a catch. The Xfinity StreamSaver (the version for internet subscribers) only included the ad-supported versions of Netflix and Peacock — Apple TV+ currently does not offer ad-supported streaming.
Comcast did make it possible to upgrade to ad-free Netflix for an extra $8.50, and in May, a Comcast spokesperson told me, “We plan to add the ability for Xfinity StreamSaver customers to upgrade Peacock soon.” I have followed up a number of times since, seeking additional details, but have never gotten any further clarification on the timing for this change.
So, in the meantime, I have been using the ad-supported version of Peacock. While the NBCUniversal service might not have the subscriber numbers of some of its competitors, it is one that I turn to numerous times throughout the week in order to stream new episodes of “The Voice” and the latest Hallmark Channel movies. And, much to my surprise, I am not completely turned off by the experience.
To be fair, I do stream live sports and news coverage with commercials on live TV streaming services since there is no other option from a linear perspective. But when it comes to on-demand content, I haven’t had to deal with commercial interruptions since I first got Netflix over a decade ago… until now.
At first, it was a little jarring, because despite knowing it was coming, my TV-watching brain wasn’t expecting an ad break. But the more I reacclimated to the commercials and began to figure out their cadence, the more I not only tolerated them but found them useful. I still think that when Comcast eventually gives me the option to upgrade to ad-free Peacock, I probably will — assuming it’s not an unacceptable rate increase. However, I believe that the commercial breaks have actually served to keep me more engaged and focused on the show that I am watching.
Neither “The Voice” nor anything airing on any Hallmark channel will ever be considered prestige TV that requires extreme levels of concentration, so normally, I have them on while I am doing other things, either working or playing around on my phone. But now that I know that commercial breaks are coming, I find that I am more willing to look away from my second device and focus on the big screen in front of me because I know that I’ll have a chance to check my email or scroll through my feed every few minutes.
This might seem small, but I have felt noticeably more present in these shows than I normally do. Rather than effectively tuning out all of the contestant intro packages on “The Voice,” I am paying more attention to who each singer is and where they come from. Then, when Michael Bublé, Gwen Stefani, Reba McEntire, or Snoop Dogg turns for them, I feel more connected to and invested in them as artists.
Similarly, while it is fairly easy to follow a Hallmark plot with only one ear or eye toward the screen, as fans, we come back to these familiar, formulaic stories in large part because we love the actors. So, now that I feel like I can pause my work or doom-scrolling for a segment to fully immerse myself in the movie, I find myself connecting with the stories and characters far more than I would have otherwise, and it reminds me why I religiously watch each and every new release.
In fairness, if I had been forced to stream shows that required my attention like “Mrs. Davis” or the first season of “Poker Face” with ads, I might not appreciate the interruptions as much, but for what I am watching now, they are surprisingly not too bad.
While the insertion of commercials into my streaming diet has changed how I digest shows and movies, it stands to reason that if there are a lot of other people like me, it can also have under-the-radar impacts for streamers. While Peacock, Disney+, Prime Video, and other streamers with ad-supported plans are banking on the lower price keeping customers subscribed to their service, if viewers are also utilizing the ad breaks for their scrolling time, they very well might be becoming more invested in the shows and movies themselves, further solidifying their relationship with the streamer.
At this point, I don’t know that I could completely give up interruption-free streaming and fully embrace the ad-supported life, but I am grateful to know that when need be, not only do I not hate it, but there are some surprisingly positive benefits associated with the experience.
Peacock
Peacock is a subscription video streaming service from NBCUniversal that includes original shows, blockbuster movies, and classic television series. Peacock is home to “Yellowstone,” and “The Office,” as well as original hits like “Poker Face” and “Bel-Air.” You can also watch live sports including NFL, MLB, WWE, Olympics, Premier League, NASCAR, French Open, College Football and Basketball, and PGA Tour. Premium Plus subscribers can stream their local NBC feed in all 210 markets.