When It Comes to Streaming Ads, Less Is More

When Ad Delivery Doesn’t Match Viewer Expectations

Today’s viewers understand the deal: Watch some ads, get free content. A significant 66% actually prefer ad-supported streaming over paid subscriptions. And, as subscription costs continue to rise, the preference for free and lower-cost, ad-supported options is only growing. 

But viewers’ willingness to watch ads comes with clear expectations. Research from Tubi’s The Stream 2025: Audience Insights Shaping Streaming shows 81% of viewers believe watching ads is an expected part of access to free streaming content. But the quality of ads can color the viewing experience. Currently, 73% of Gen Z viewers find streaming ads to be irrelevant to their interests, and 46% of viewers find that ads “significantly disrupt their streaming experience.” 

To avoid these advertising pitfalls, pay attention to these four factors that determine whether viewers stay engaged or tune out:

• Ad load. While advertising can be expected as part of the streaming experience, traditional, TV-level ad loads quickly lead to ad fatigue and cause audiences to lose interest in what they’re watching.
• Frequency. Seeing the same ad repeatedly across platforms or even within the same show doesn’t just annoy viewers—it actively works against brand engagement, potentially even creating negative brand sentiment.
• Relevance. Audiences expect ads to match their interests and complement the content they’re watching. Streaming a nature documentary that’s interrupted by ads for an oil company makes for a disjointed viewing experience.
• Placement. Advertisements that show up at random times during content—like in the middle of a scene or even a sentence—immediately rip audiences out of their viewing experience and often cause frustration.

To overcome these common challenges, advertisers are learning what actually works in today’s streaming landscape. And choosing the right streaming model—with the right ad tech—makes all the difference.

The VOD Advantage

With streaming platforms, advertiser success hinges on how viewers engage with content. 

While many FAST channels recreate traditional TV’s scheduled programming, video on demand (VOD) invites viewers to discover and watch content they’re interested in. With VOD streaming services like Tubi, where 95% of viewing happens on-demand, there’s a fundamentally different kind of viewer experience than traditional linear or FAST channels. 

VOD viewership is built on a foundation of inherent engagement. As opposed to lean-back viewing—passively consuming pre-scheduled, linear programming—VOD audiences can explore, discover, and actively choose from a content library tailored to their interests. 

For example, Tubi’s massive library of 275,000 titles invites viewers to find content through hyper-personalized recommendations that go beyond simple genre matching. Tubi’s platform learns and adapts to each viewer’s interests in real time, leading to deeper content exploration and engagement.

This active, dynamic discovery translates into viewing behaviors that benefit advertisers. According to The Stream 2025: Audience Insights Shaping Streaming, 57% of viewers spend one to three hours watching their chosen content in a single sitting. That means more opportunities for brand exposure, especially if ads are aligned with the content. Tubi’s research also reveals that 59% of viewers—and 81% of Gen Z—say that watching interesting ads as they stream makes them more likely to consider taking action. 

When viewers are invested in their content choices (rather than second-screening whatever just because it’s on), they become more receptive to relevant advertising—and that open mindset is a huge success factor for brands. Also, because VOD empowers viewers to continuously discover content based on their interests, advertisers gain better targeting capabilities and more accurate performance measurements.

That’s ultimately why VOD delivers consistently stronger results: Brands are able to reach viewers during moments of active discovery and engagement, not just passive viewing. 

With such high levels of engagement, serving fewer, more relevant ads has a greater impact on conversions. But to drive that impact, advertisers need advanced ad tech to optimize the viewing experience and serve the right ads to the right audiences. 

Built Different: Ad Tech That Delivers

Fostering impactful, viewer-first ad experiences relies on advanced advertising technology—ad tech built specifically for streaming. 

That’s where Tubi’s decade-plus of ad tech experience makes a difference. 

Many subscription-based video on-demand (SVOD) platforms are just starting to build their own ad tech to support new, ad-inclusive subscription tiers as they make the transition from exclusively ad-free models. Meanwhile, Tubi has been ad-supported since Day One and has designed ad tech infrastructure around the viewing experience. The philosophy is simple: If viewers aren’t retained, advertisers aren’t retained either. 

Ad Load, Not Overload

This viewer-first philosophy drives every aspect of Tubi’s advertising approach, starting with ad load. Serving too many ads disrupts the viewing experience, but serving too few ads limits brand reach for advertisers. 

Rather than guessing at the right balance, Tubi tests every aspect of ad delivery. The data consistently shows that four to six minutes of ads per hour—with no more than three ads per break and six-minute gaps between pods—keeps viewers engaged and responding to brand messages. When you respect viewer attention instead of maxing out ad inventory, every advertising moment becomes more valuable.

Organic and Dramatic Ad Breaks

When ad moments appear is also important to get right. Everyone knows the pain of having content they’re watching cut out mid-sentence or at the peak of a dramatic moment for a commercial break. Still, many streaming services insert ads based on time elapsed rather than at a natural point in the content. And that negatively impacts the viewing experience.

Tubi’s ad tech, on the other hand, uses machine learning to identify natural moments for ad breaks. 

It analyzes content in real time, finding transitions where brief pauses feel organic. For syndicated content, it matches familiar broadcast patterns. For movies and Tubi Originals, it identifies scene changes where viewers are naturally ready for a break. This contextual intelligence ensures ads appear when audiences can seamlessly flow between their content and the advertisement without disruption—creating real connection between brands and viewers.

Putting Ad Fatigue to Rest

Even with the best-timed ads, if a viewer is seeing the same one over and over, the connection is all but guaranteed to be lost. The problem is that many advertisers don’t actually have control over ad frequency, especially when they are submitting campaigns across multiple platforms. 

When brands run campaigns through different demand sources, the same ad can appear repeatedly to the same viewer. Sometimes this happens through different platforms and sometimes through unintentional duplicate buys. Either way, it diminishes campaign effectiveness and can cause ad fatigue for audiences.

That’s where Tubi’s cutting-edge Advanced Frequency Management (AFM) technology comes in. This technology scans creative across every demand source, using frame-by-frame matching to identify identical ads. When it finds a match, it automatically adjusts distribution based on campaign spend goals. Advertisers get the full value of their media buy without risking ad fatigue.

With all of these advanced capabilities supporting their campaigns, brands consistently see better campaign delivery and reduced waste on Tubi. Brands are getting it all: reaching viewers in an environment designed to maintain engagement—not just deliver impressions.

The Future of Streaming Advertising: Putting Viewers First

It’s time to move far beyond the old-school approach of jamming ads into content. 

The most powerful ad experiences aren’t about volume; they’re about value. With advanced ad tech that understands context, audience, and engagement, brands have an unprecedented opportunity to transform advertising from an interruption into a value-add.

By centering the viewer experience, every ad becomes a potential moment of discovery, not a reason to reach for the remote.