How Much of Your Streaming Time Is Actually Commercials?
Add the streaming services you actually use, how many hours a week you watch each one, and whether you’re on the ad-supported or ad-free tier. This calculator adds up your estimated annual commercial time from services you actually picked, service by service — not one blended industry average applied to everything.
Your streaming mix, not a blended average
Ad load is not the same across services — some run under 5 minutes of commercials per hour, others run more than double that. Averaging them into one number would hide exactly the difference that matters to you, so each service you add keeps its own measured or estimated ad-load figure, with the source and date shown next to it.
Measured, disclosed, or estimated
Each service’s ad load carries one of three labels. MEASURED means an independent third party actually tested it — sometimes catching a gap with what the company itself claims. DISCLOSED means the company stated the figure itself, but nobody independently verified it. ESTIMATED means independent sources disagree with each other by more than a small margin, so a range is shown instead of one falsely precise number. These are never blended into a single unlabeled figure.
One continuous block
Your annual ad time is normally scattered across hundreds of individual viewing sessions. The calculator also shows what it would look like compressed into one continuous block. This is a time-equivalent, not a claim that you actually sit through ads in one sitting.
The money-for-time trade
Where a comparable ad-free tier exists, the calculator shows the annual price difference next to your estimated ad time, expressed as savings per hour of ads watched. This number needs no personal information to compute — it’s a straightforward comparison, not a verdict. Some services, like Tubi, have no ad-free tier at all, and the calculator says so plainly instead of inventing a number.
Your own time value, only if you want it
One optional field lets you put your own hourly value on your time. If you use it, the calculator shows what your chosen rate would put on your estimated ad time. The number comes entirely from your own input — nothing is assumed or defaulted on your behalf, and the field stays empty until you type in it.
What this calculator doesn’t decide
It doesn’t tell you that watching ads is a waste of time or that upgrading to ad-free is the smart move. It shows the commercial time attached to your actual viewing pattern and, where pricing data exists, the money you’re exchanging for accepting it. The decision stays with you.
Ad-load figures and prices are compiled from multiple independent sources as of August 2026 and are noted for reference only — this market changes both figures multiple times a year, so verify current numbers before relying on this for a major decision. Everything on this page runs in your browser; nothing you enter is saved or sent anywhere.