The news: Streaming services keep upping ad loads.

• Ad minutes per hour grew 18% across streaming platforms including Netflix, Prime Video, and Paramount+, between January and August 2026, per Ampere Analysis data shared with Business Insider.
• Paramount+ led overall ad load volume, with 9.01 ad minutes per hour in August compared with 7.87 minutes in January. That means audiences are spending roughly 15% of their viewing time watching ads.
• Netflix saw the largest proportional increase, with average ad minutes per hour rising 1.40 in January to 2.44 in August—though it remains the platform with the fewest ads per hour.
• Business Insider noted that all major streaming platforms—including Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, and others—have raised prices in the past 12 months, and said there was no significant correlation between ad loads and ad-tier prices.

Why it matters: Viewers are increasingly shifting away from ad-free plans due to higher subscription costs, giving advertisers more opportunities to reach audiences that were once inaccessible.

But as ad loads increase across the board, inventory quality matters more to break through a growing clutter of ads and capture limited viewer attention.

Behind the scenes: Greater ad reach gives platforms more pricing power with advertisers, while lower-cost ad tiers often attract more users: About 80% of Peacock viewers and the majority of Prime Video viewers are ad-supported, per our forecast.