How many ads do you really see when watching Netflix?
How many ads do you really see when watching Netflix?
The world’s largest streaming service has a comfortingly consistent ad experience across its library.
In a lot of ways, Netflix still represents some of the most foundational promises of streaming. Those promises included a much cheaper price than cable or satellite plans, and the ability to stream the TV shows and movies you loved most without having to sit through commercials.
In 2025, most of those promises have sadly gone glimmering. Even Netflix has an ad-supported plan now, its Standard with Ads option priced at $7 per month. If you’re thinking about trying Netflix with ads, check out my thoughts on the streamer’s ad experience below.
How many ads do you see while watching Netflix?
What’s the ad experience while watching a Netflix original series?
I flipped on two Netflix original shows to test out the ad experience there. The half-hour series I went with was “Bojack Horseman,” and I also tested “Bridgerton” to see if the experience was any different on a one-hour show, or if it stayed consistent.
Across both shows, the ad experience was nearly exactly the same. I saw ad breaks of 15 to 30 seconds in length, either for Netflix original shows or for products that the streamer has partnered with. There was only one ad per break, and there was only one pre-roll ad, showing that Netflix often doesn’t use them at all. Altogether, there were two to three ad breaks per episode for the half-hour show and four to five breaks during the hour-long one.
What’s the ad experience like while watching licensed shows on Netflix?
There’s not much different to report on this front either. Whether I was watching a half-hour licensed show on Netflix — “Seinfeld” in this case — or an hourlong one like “Breaking Bad,” I was treated to the same experience as I was during Netflix original shows.
That is to say, I saw plenty of ads for Netflix’s own titles, but again the ad breaks were only 15 to 30 seconds in length, and featured just one commercial apiece. Breaks were spaced out in the episode, and again I saw two or three breaks per 30-minute episode and three or four during an hourlong show.
What’s the ad experience like while streaming Netflix original movies?
Movies offer pretty much the same ad experience as original shows on Netflix. There are definitely more ads involved, however; when I turned on “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,” I immediately noticed the progress bar had nine scheduled ad breaks in it, far more than any of the TV series I’ve seen on Netflix so far.
The length of ad breaks while watching movies on Netflix was thankfully the same 15 to 30 seconds I saw while watching TV shows, however. I did see the same ad twice in different breaks during the stream of the movie, but they weren’t back to back at least.
What’s the ad experience like while watching a licensed Netflix movie?
When I turned on “Horizon: An American Saga,” I got exactly what I expected. No pre-roll ads, around 10 ad breaks during playback, and no breaks more than 15 to 30 seconds in duration. Netflix clearly likes to make its ad-watching experience as consistent as possible across all of its content.
Were there any ads during kids’ shows on Netflix?
No, but with a caveat. I tried a multitude of licensed kids’ titles on Netflix, and on each, I saw zero pauses for ad breaks built into the progress bar. When I turned on the Netflix original “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” however, the stream started off with a pre-roll ad. So, there may be the potential to see ads during kids’ original shows while streaming on Netflix.
Does Netflix have pause ads?
At no point while streaming any of the above content did I see a pause ad while using Netflix. Maybe I just got incredibly lucky in that regard, but I think it’s safe to say there are no pause ads on the streamer as of now.
Final thoughts
When I tried Prime Video's ad experience last week, I thought it wasn’t all that bad compared to my expectations, but Netflix’s proved to be significantly better. It’s much more consistent overall, and I really enjoyed the shorter ad breaks, even if that meant there were more pauses for commercials during the stream of a movie. If you prefer longer commercial breaks so there are fewer during playback, Netflix may not be the streamer for you, but I have no complaints about how many ads I saw while streaming there.
Netflix
Netflix is a subscription video streaming service that includes on-demand access to 3,000+ movies, 2,000+ TV Shows, and Netflix Originals like Stranger Things, Squid Game, The Crown, Tiger King, and Bridgerton. They are constantly adding new shows and movies. Some of their Academy Award-winning exclusives include Roma, Marriage Story, Mank, and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.