Movies on major US streaming platforms carry significantly lighter advertising loads than episodic TV, according to the first data from Ampere Analysis’ new Streaming Advertising Analytics service.
Ampere said the typical movie contains 40% fewer minutes of advertising per hour than the typical TV series across all platforms analysed, underlining how streamers are adapting ad strategies to different types of viewing.
The research found that episodic TV carries just over five minutes of ads per hour on average, compared with three minutes per hour for films. Movies also feature fewer interruptions, with viewers seeing an average of 36 minutes of content between ad breaks, against 14 minutes for TV series.
Ampere said every major US streaming service in its sample showed lower ad loads on movies than on episodic content. Paramount+ recorded the widest gap, with movie ad loads 10 times lower than those on TV series.
Despite the difference in frequency, the average duration of each ad break was broadly consistent across both formats at just over 1 minute.
Callum Sillars, senior research manager at Ampere Analysis, said the findings reflect the different viewing dynamics of film and episodic content. “Movies are expensive, premium content. While this could lead to higher ad loads to justify the investment, we instead see the opposite. Premium first-run streaming movies can carry advertising guardrails, but they account for only a small share of overall viewing time. Films rely on maintaining narrative and cinematic immersion, so ad breaks are typically less frequent to align with the viewing experience. By contrast, TV series naturally lend themselves to more ad opportunities, as episodic content has organic breakpoints both during and between episodes, enabling higher ad loads.”
Ampere said the data highlights how streamers are increasingly tailoring advertising strategies to content format and viewer behaviour, balancing monetisation against the risk of disrupting the viewing experience.
