[Poll results live] Streaming platforms like Hulu & YouTube Premium should stop showing ads on top-tier paid plans

New updates are being added to the bottom of the story…

Original story (from Oct 03) follows:

The regular MLB 2021 season has just come to an end, but it doesn’t mean people will stop watching TV. In fact, with more games lined up from the likes of EPL and UEFA Champions League, live TV will still be in demand.

There are plenty of streaming services available for the average consumer, but the likes of Hulu and YouTube TV are the creme dela creme of the lot when into live TV streaming. Still, this doesn’t make them perfect.

There are quite a number of good things you get with a premium subscription to a live TV streaming platform. But most importantly, you get to do away with cable TV.

Features such as a never-ending pool of on-demand content, advanced DVR, and availability on multiple platforms come as another huge bonus of modern-day streaming services.

Even better is you get to pick the package you can afford to pay, which makes the whole thing flexible. Hulu on-demand, for instance, has a $6.99 plan, but you get to sit through ads. The ad-free plan costs $12.99.

If live TV is included, Hulu charges $65 per month (or $70.99 for no-ads plan), which is pretty much on the higher side alongside DirecTV Stream that costs $70. These are above the $55 average American families pay per month for streaming services.

Of course, most subscribers of these streaming services can easily afford to part with the fees charged. After all, who needs cable TV?

There’s one little problem, though. While streaming is supposed to give users total control over their viewing experience, service providers are often finding sneaky ways of getting into the way.

Sure, Netflix has always been fully committed to showing content with no commercials in between. But for the likes of Hulu, ads are one way they manage to keep prices down.

While streaming services are undoubtedly succeeding at cord-cutting, one cable mainstay that has somehow sneaked into the modern-day streaming era is advertisements or commercials for that matter.

As noted earlier, streaming platforms usually have these low-tier plans that often include ads when watching on-demand shows. Through upgrades to pricier tiers, users can watch the same shows without intrusive ads.

However, there are multiple complaints from users of platforms like YouTube Premium and Hulu, among others, saying that they still see ads despite paying premium fees just so as to eliminate commercials from their watching experience.

The extra pay makes it possible for streaming platforms to afford airing these shows without having to depend on ads to boost revenues. But for some reason, Hulu, for instance, still has VOD ads on its $65/month plan.

No denying that an extra $6 will get you the No Ads Hulu Live plan, however, not even switching to this plan guarantees an ad-free viewing experience.

Why can’t Hulu distinguish to the viewer what shows have commercials and what doesnt? We switched to Live Tv with No Ads because my shows are reruns and didnt have ads. Now that the wife switched to LIVE my shows now have ads. I dont understand why you even have a LIVE tab if everything has ads now. We’ve had Hulu ever since it came out but my wife canceled last night over this. We have been discussing with Hulu for over a year about this problem and nobody seems to care.
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Just switched to Hulu+TV without ads and the first movie I’m watching is Tag and there are ads. What the hell is that?
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According to Hulu, not even the No Ads plan is exempted from commercials since the package includes plenty of on-demand shows and movies from network partners, which may have ads.

Some subscribers may be lenient enough to understand this situation, but I bet none will tolerate having to sit through ads after every couple or so minutes.

I’m getting 2 minute ads now every ad on 40 minute shows. Is this normal? It’s getting lowkey kind of annoying here.
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I expected ads on the local channels but USA interrupted my movie every 7-8 minutes with ads, and much the same ads every time. Is USA one of the “exceptions” to no-ad Hulu?
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Is it me or is the Hulu ad supported seem to be showing more commercials than normal? I’m here watching American dad and it seems like every minute or two I’m getting a 90 second ad. Is there anything I can do about this besides going ad free?
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A further scan through Reddit (1, 2, 3) and the official Hulu community forum (1, 2) reveals similar stories. Not even YouTube Premium, which is meant to get rid of the ads that drive the free version, is spared.

On the brighter side, YouTube has at least acknowledged this issue. But it has been acknowledging it for months now with no fix in sight.

And if so determined to show commercials even on paid-for plans, at least both Hulu and YouTube should work on fixing the issue where ads play with way much louder sound than the rest of the content.

Both platforms have acknowledged these issues and promised to address them, but still, it has been ages yet there’s no fix in sight.

If Netflix subscribers can enjoy VODs with no ads, Hulu and other industry players can easily match this if they wanted to. Which makes me wonder, are these platforms taking subscribers for a ride?

How long will it take to address the issues with ads in premium plans? Are they simply ignoring these issues since commercials boost their coffers, even if it’s at the expense of great user experience?

Regardless of their reasons, it doesn’t sit right paying for a premium service in order to get a smooth, uninterruptible experience but still end up being bombarded with the very same ads you pay a hefty monthly price to avoid.

It’d make some sense to include ads on the low-tier $10, $20, $30 or even $40 plans, but having these ads show up on plans that cost $60, $70 or more per month is unfathomable.

Maybe not such a little problem as I insinuated earlier. But one that needs revisiting from major streaming platforms, especially now that lately they seem to be on a price-hiking mission.

You can join the conversation via the comments section below. The Twitter poll below is also yours to cast a vote, with the results to be revealed after a week.

The results for the poll are live, with majority siding against having ads on top-tier premium plan on Hulu, YouTube Premium, or other streaming platforms. In case you missed the poll, you can share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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