HBO MAX Ads vs. No Ads (How Bad Are the Ads on HBO MAX?)

[@FrugalRules]

What service has the worst ads, in your experience? Would you choose an ad-supported option to save money on a service?

[@jessmason6574]

Hulu has the worst imo as they are long ads. Sometimes if I pause it, then push play. Even if an ad jist played but does not do it all the time just annoying with the ling ads.

[@moramora6976]

Yes Hulu is the worst for me

[@robburcham6289]

$10 a month with ads is outrageous. No service should be over $5 with ads.

[@kcastillo1234]

That’s reasonable

[@kylewm]

At the end of the day, I feel you’re paying for the name.

[@kcastillo1234]

Why is no one talking about paramount plus you can get there most expensive plan and still get ads

[@silentechotwd4868]

I would argue that you shouldn't have to pay for ads. They are already getting paid by the sponsor, so it's just double dipping on their funds. Hulu is the worst for this as they started free, then charged for no ads. Then they added ads to the paid version and made you pay more for no ads. It's scummy all around.

[@aaronsilverman4226]

Hulu's ads during half-hour TV shows are almost unbearable, but with movies, they show all the ads up front and then run the movie without breaks. (Peacock does the same thing for movies.) I really like that, and wish that HBO did the same.

[@heatism]

HBO max runs ads during movies?

[@josephcervantes3513]

omg the HBO max ads were perfect but these new MAX ads are BRUTAL! even all HBO originals now have absurd number of ads 😭 definitely gotta cancel or upgrade now

[@FrugalRules]

We're seeing the same thing. Day one was brutal on HBO originals. Then they moved to one for an hour-long show (along with a pre-show ad). Now, they seem to have bounced back to the heavy hand. With shows that were obviously not made for ads it's a real nuisance.

[@terribletomvu37]

This was ridiculously thorough. Thank you for sharing this!

[@nickztheleecher]

So candid yet succinct and technical, loved the review. Keep up the good work John and Nicole!

[@FrugalRules]

Thanks for the feedback!

[@Penpaper]

Good job. You gave me the info I was seeking. I’m just leaving a comment because I know it helps with the algorithm 👍🏼

[@pizzaandsoda100]

You have assisted me with this information, I appreciate you 💯

[@timbrown9305]

This was by for one of the most comprehensive, well planned and informative reviews of anything I have ever seen. Both of you are crazy good at the entire presentation. I try to watch reviews of nearly everything I am thinking of purchasing. There is more here than meets they eye. One or both of you have to be highly educated with some kind of degree in communications. Amazing distribution of facts and timing between the two as well as appropriate intonation ..... Now I am going subscribe and find out if I am right.

[@FrugalRules]

Thanks so much for the compliment, we both really appreciate it! Yep, I (John) have an MBA in Finance and Nicole has an MA in communications. 🙂 We're glad you found the video helpful, and always happy to assist.

[@ishangocartel3495]

streaming was meant to be with no adds, now this adds crop smh can win nothing

[@FrugalRules]

That's actually not the case. Most of the paid services just started that way. At least HBO Max is giving you the option to choose which version you want.

[@lukaschabrecek9041]

Incredibly informative video, thank you!

[@wudzkillus]

thanks for the revs folks!

[@doctorthee]

"will there be more ads..." Here after HBO/discovery decided to add ads to ad-free plans disguised as "skipable video-previews" without a setting to turn it off.

[@lillyy3470]

Thanks you so much for this video, very informative 👍🏾

[@miguelc2164]

This is exactly what I was looking for thank you

[@FrugalRules]

Awesome, glad to be of assistance.

[@Stache987]

I know on some totally free services some ads repeat over and over, one company placed 6 or more in a 9 commercial interruption window for a local grocery store, when we moved and found a better internet for a lower price, we found the commercial content was for a city about 300 miles away, it seems the commercial content was based on our dynamic IP giving us ads for places we are so unlikely to do business at unless traveling. (It's a cellular provided internet)

[@FrugalRules]

That would definitely be frustrating. Free services can be notorious for showing the same ads repeatedly. We get why, on one hand, but it often leads to a poor experience for the user and less likelihood to purchase something given the frustration.

[@Stache987]

@@FrugalRules there was a lady who had a weekly Q & A here on KZbin, she bragged about the commercials for Charmin, and Chucky. I wish I could get my IP reassigned to Chicago or someplace more interesting than Minneapolis.. I'm seeing the exposés on my internet providers lack of customer service and complaint resolution, but I live in one of those small town monopoly areas, where we were before has been crawling closer though, its now serving people 23 miles west of here.

[@thewife007]

Thanks for this! Im going with the ad supported. I also agree with signing up for the annual. I paid Disney+ ahead, and then Hulu did their special. Now there's nothing I can do until i sign up for another year. Thanks again.

[@mediahost2243]

This is crisp info, presented very well. Thanks so much👏👏

[@FrugalRules]

Of course, always happy to help. 🙂

[@derekvallem]

Thank you for all of your research. Some great information here. I’m willing to pay more for ad-free versions at the moment but if I add more services, I may take another look at the cheaper ad-supported plans. It’s nice to have options.

[@FrugalRules]

Yea, it really is nice to have options . That's especially the case when it's a choice to have an ad plan or not, without forcing a price increase into it. We typically stray away from ad-supported plans, but if we had to choose one it'd likely be HBO MAX.

[@shackdaddy7106]

I know you don’t like annual plans. But what about the deal that HBO max is offering now for the ad supported plan until October 30 to get 12 months for $69.99. That is quite a savings.

[@FrugalRules]

Yea, we typically don't unless it's something you know you'll watch. This was the last video we filmed before our trip, and the deal wasn't out then, otherwise it's likely we would've mentioned it. We signed up for a similar deal last year and it's just about up so we're debating the other signing up for this deal. We watch HBO content a lot, so there's value for us. That's what it really comes down to, in our opinion. This deal offers a good bit of savings, and if you watch it often enough it's likely a no-brainer. That said, we'll be interested to see how this particular deal plays out once they combine platforms & if they'll continue to offer it with the cost-conscious Zaslav taking a hatchet to things. That's probably more than you cared to know. 🤣

[@PeacefulPariah]

Who's whoa whoa. Is this for new customers only? Because I'm up for a renewal and I don't know if I'm going to enroll in the annual plan again, but definitely will if it's only 70 bucks.

[@shackdaddy7106]

@@PeacefulPariah I canceled HBO max in August because I knew I wouldn’t be home in September. But in October I will probably sign up again and I’m pretty sure you can get that good annual price. They started offering the plan in August. And if you’re interested, Peacock has a deal where you can sign up for $1.99 a month for 12 months. That started in August and I signed up then because I had no idea when the offer was going to go away. But I think they’re still offering it.

[@FrugalRules]

@@shackdaddy7106 Yea, the HBO Max deal is running through 10/30. We signed up for it, but had to use a different email address to qualify, so keep that in mind. The Peacock deal died a day or two ago, unfortunately.

[@shackdaddy7106]

@@FrugalRules I’m glad I signed up for the Peacock deal in August. Unlike HBO Max. I had no idea when the deal was going to expire. Because it was so cheap. I thought I would get it when I could. And I was able to use my normal email account to re-sign up for it. So I had no problem with that. I have a question for you guys regarding Hulu without ads. I canceled it in August And I would like to sign back up for it on an annual plan on Black Friday. If they offer a black Friday deal. Do you think I would need a second email account to do that.

[@IAintNoRookie]

I never had ads but after this update now there showing

[@FrugalRules]

Do you have the ad-supported plan? We do, and there wasn't ads in HBO content prior to the changeover. That appears to have changed for us, in our testing. We're not fans of it, overall, thus far.

[@IAintNoRookie]

@@FrugalRules im thinking about canceling it because its very annoying now.

[@IAintNoRookie]

@@FrugalRules I signed up probably during black Friday and didn't even read what I purchased but I know for a fact there were no ads at all.

[@FrugalRules]

@@IAintNoRookie Interestingly, in our testing this afternoon it seems that the ads have been scaled back quite a bit in HBO-related content.

[@josephcervantes3513]

went from the 15-30second ads only in the beginning for HBO originals now every episode or series has nearly 4x the amount of ads annoyingly throughout definitely cancelling or upgrading next month

[@armenianweirdo]

Do they give a few second warning that ads are coming like Tubi does? I like a warning so I have time to mute the TV.

[@FrugalRules]

Good question. They don't give a warning. They give a progress wheel, so you know how much is left of the ad break. They also put them in fairly obvious spots, in our testing.

[@JAntonio207]

Thank you for this video ☺️

[@vocalsunleashed]

I searched for a review on the plan with ads because the plans in the Netherlands are changing. But these prices are so much more ridiculous! Here it was €59,99 a year for the full plan, now it will be €59,90 a year with ads and €99,90 ad-free. So I want to know if it is worth it to stay under €60 but have ads. However, luckily July 1st was my renewal date and it was less than 60 days after the change so it renewed for €59,99 for the ad-free plan and it won't renew again until July 1st 2025. But yeah I do want to know if €40 is worth watching ads or not...

[@dathyr1]

Thanks for all the information on ads with various services. I have the Ad Free HBOMax at this time. I don't mind ads, but for the time being will still stay with Ad Free. Wow, I am surprised on how many Ads Paramount+ shows. I am not a member of that service at this time, but good to know what they provide. I also do watch Free streaming services from time to time and don't mind their ads, though I never timed them or how many per hour. Take care.

[@FrugalRules]

Yep, it's definitely a different approach each service takes with ads. We wish more would follow the lead of HBO Max, but that's just not the case unfortunately.

[@spaceghost4474]

It sounds like a tolerable amount of adds if you want to save 5 bucks, but I have an extreme intolerance for adds on ANY VOD service, so I'll continue with the add free version. I only subscribe for 2 or 3 months a year anyway. It's still my favorite over Netflix and Hulu.

[@FrugalRules]

It really is. We don't like ads either and found it to be the best experience across any VOD service. If you only watch HBO originals they don't include any in those. But, given how Zaslav is making cuts we wouldn't be too shocked if that were to end to help their bottom line.

[@jessmason6574]

Right now HBO Max has a special for a prepaid year plan with no ads at 69.99(with ads) and 104.99(without ads) offer ends 10/30/22. Do you think that's a 2 deal? I haven't seen anything lower then that price. But if discovery plus and HBO max will have a combination, I am wondering how much extra it will be or will it just be added to prepaid subscriptions.

[@joeperri319]

Thanks for the info

[@sublimechimp]

True Detective musn’t be interrupted by anything

[@crunkin1t590]

😂😂

[@daveswanson5350]

NO NO NO ADS ADS ADS if ads appear I will not watch

[@TehRam318]

I just started getting ads in the middle of my shows and I pay for ad free. I’m trying to figure out what in the world is going on.

[@FrugalRules]

Hm, that's not good. Have you been able to get any assistance from their support?

[@TehRam318]

@@FrugalRules no not yet. It just started 2 days ago and it’s ads for their own stuff on HBO. I’m so confused because it’s just random throughout different episodes

[@FrugalRules]

@@TehRam318 Got ya. We'd definitely recommend reaching out to them as you shouldn't be seeing them. 🙂

[@rta3738]

Considering the $70 annual deal offer I expect the number and length of ads to increase to Discovery’s. Really just watch HBO original shows so hopefully they keep those ad free.

[@VGB004]

Good breakdwn bcus I was surprised to see how light the ads were while watching the almost 4hr Return of the King' movie. 😌👍

[@fayemoss7282]

Thanks so much

[@ChicagoVeryOwn12]

Now that’s weird since HBO is a channel and they don’t have ads lol so they adding them on streaming platform instead lol . That’s backwards

[@frankvee]

Eventually, even the NO ADS plans will feature ads. Welcome to streaming everyone!! 😂

[@TheThompsonP]

Hey guys thanks for the video. Wanted to get HBO for probably a few months to binge a few tv series and Movies. Appreciate the in-depth breakdown of the ads vs no ads. Cheers!

[@FrugalRules]

Of course. Depending on how many are HBO originals, you could save a bit of cash.

[@philiphatfield5666]

If you folks want to have your movies interrupted by stupid ad breaks just to save a few dollars, then more power to you; as for me, movies are sacred to me, and I will not spend good money to have the flow of classic movies ruined by ads.

[@FrugalRules]

You're missing the entire point of the video. Half of the beauty of streaming is you get to choose what you want. 🙂

[@aaronsilverman4226]

I hate ads during movies too, but Peacock and Hulu only show ads at the beginning of movies. (Shows are another story.)

[@largesizejellyfish3014]

hahaha guess im dusting off the old pirate flag

[@cmmvvt6872]

There are just too many ads

[@Huggybear18]

Thxs

[@TheRoadLessChosen]

Bruh. If you had tatts on your face you’d look like post Malone