Media Entertainment

Inside streaming’s ad pivot: from viewers paying a fee to paying the price

Anuj Suvarna

December 10, 2025 | 10 Min Read

Streaming promised freedom from cable. Instead, viewers are having to contend with ads, upsells, and data tracking, as the industry races to rebuild the exact model viewers paid to escape.

After just six episodes of the new season of The Family Man on Amazon Prime Video, a viewer decided to keep a log, not of plot twists, but of ads that were coming in their way. Detergent. Car insurance. Home loan. Another detergent, three minutes after the first. By the season finale, they had documented something striking: for every two hours of content she'd paid to watch, Amazon showed her one hour of ads.

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