One-Third of TV Time = Ad-Supported Streaming

One third. That’s how much of your TV time now includes ads from streaming services. Ten years ago? Almost zero.

And while cord-cutting gets the headlines, a bigger story is quietly unfolding:
The rise of ad-supported streaming — and the reshaping of TV’s entire ad economy.

Let’s break it down into 4 big questions:
1) How much TV has ads?
2) How many commercials do you watch in a day?
3) How many ad impressions does one hour of TV create?
4) Why are total TV ad impressions falling, even as we watch more TV?

How much TV has ads?

Share of total TV time according to Nielsen:
1) Ad-supported - 74%
2) Ad-free - 26%

Share of ad-supported total TV time:
1) Linear - 55%
2) Streaming - 45%

Known unknown: I assume the above data from Nielsen only focuses on the Gauge's broadcast, cable, and streaming parts.  This may be incorrect.  To compare these, I removed the “other category” and reapplied the share so everything adds up to 100%.

Quick math on ad-supported linear TV:
1) 74% of all TV is ad-supported
2) 55% of ad-supported time is linear
3) 40% of all TV time is ad-supported linear
4) 82% of all linear TV is ad-supported

Quick math on ad-supported streaming TV:
1) 74% of all TV is ad-supported
2) 45% of ad-supported time is streaming
3) 33% of all TV time is ad-supported streaming
4) 66% of all streaming TV is ad-supported

How many commercials do you watch in a day?

Quick math on ad impressions from one hour of TV:
1) 74% of all TV is ad-supported
2) 44m of TV viewing is ad-supported
3) 11m of ads per hour of ad-supported TV
4) 8m of ads per hour of total TV

Flashback: How Many Ad Impressions Does One Hour of TV Create?

How many TV ads do we see each day?

Quick answer: 85 30s spots per day

Quick math on TV ads per day:
1) 5.0 hours of total TV viewing
2) 8.4 minutes of ads/hour
3) 42.7 minutes of ads/day
4) 85 30-second spots/day

Average TV ad spots per day:
1) Linear - 65 (76%)
2) Streaming - 20 (24%)
3) Total - 85

Why are total TV ad impressions falling, even as we watch more TV?

Quick answer: 9.9 trillion in 2024, but that’s down 21% over the past 10 years.

Change in ad impressions between 2014-24, according to iSpot / Cross Screen Media:
1) Linear TV - 100% → 86% (↓ 33%)
2) Streaming TV - 0% → 14% (↑ 4,787%)

Flashback: When Will Streaming Deliver More Ad Impressions Than Linear?

What’s next?

The shift to streaming is speeding up:
1) 2025 - More people reachable on streaming than linear TV
2) 2026 - People spend more time on streaming than linear TV ← YOU ARE HERE
3) 2028 - Ad money flips ← 2027?
4) 2030 - Streaming gets more ad impressions than linear TV

Bottom line: Streaming isn’t just changing how we watch. It’s rewriting the ad economy — one impression at a time.