Netflix saves subscribers from watching a week’s worth of ads a year

THE huge number of hours of TV commercials Netflix subscribers avoid puts the on-demand revolution in sobering perspective.

The Netflix generation is increasingly impatient with TV commercials. Picture: Alamy

WHERE would we be without on demand streaming services such as Netflix? Probably watching a lot more commercials.

It’s an obvious conclusion to reach but thanks to streaming dedicated website cordcutting.com, we now know roughly how many TV commercials Netflix subscribers are spared by choosing the streaming service over commercial TV.

The total time apparently amounts to 160 hours a year. That’s nearly an entire week of soul crushing commercials.

The website came to that figure by first taking the number of global Netflix subscribers which has just passed the 75 million mark.

Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings recently said subscribers were streaming 125 million hours of content every day. By dividing that figure equally among the company’s subscriber base, users on average can be said to stream one hour and 20 minutes per day.

No commercials. Picture: Alamy

According to global media ratings agency Nielsen, commercial TV contains 15 minutes and 38 seconds of advertisements per hour. If that figure is translated to the average daily Netflix intake and then extrapolated over the course of a year, you arrive at the 160 hour number.

Of course, the figure is just an average and relies on the assumption that Netflix subscribers have entirely swapped commercial TV for Netflix. But nonetheless it illustrates an interesting change in home entertainment habits among consumers.

Netflix execs have been steadfast in their commitment to the ad free model and traditional broadcasters are beginning to take notice.

In order to better compete with on demand services almost all commercial TV networks in the US have vowed to reduce the number of ads they show during programs in a bid to attract younger viewers with increasingly less patience for commercials.

“TV is the best advertising delivery mechanism ever invented. It’s unparalleled for building brands and moving consumers, but we have overstuffed the bird,” TBS and TNT president Kevin Reilly said earlier this year during a Television Critics Association event.

Netflix, on the other hand, shows no signs of tinkering with its winning formula.