Are ad-supported streaming services worth it?

Credit: Adam Birney / Android Authority

The streaming market has been on a wild ride for the last few years. During the early days of lockdowns, Netflix and other streaming services saw massive subscriber gains as more of us stayed indoors. All good things must come to an end, though, and 2022 was a much rougher year for streaming services as inflation ran amok. It also didn’t help that many of us started returning to our everyday lives. As subscriber growth slowed down, many of us also trimmed down how many streaming services we subscribe to. To counter this change in the market, many streaming services are now pushing ad-supported tiers. We’re also seeing established paid services spinning off their own FAST (free ad-supported streaming) alternatives, such as Amazon’s Freevee.

Personally, I don’t mind ads. Sure, I’d rather do without them, but I can’t deny that it’s an easy way to save some cash. Unfortunately, the current state of ads isn’t without a few quirks or sacrifices.