Andyross ALL of the ad-supported subscription services will, if they haven’t already, increase the ad load. They will increase the ad-free price, but keep the ad-supported price the “same”. But, the ad-supported people will “pay” by seeing more and more ads.
Yes, HBO Max has now announced that its ad-supported plan subscribers can now expect up to six minutes of ads per hour, an increase from the current limit of no more than four minutes per hour.:
HBO Max Adds More Ads to Its Ad Supported Plans
By Luke Bouma, Cord Cutters News - June 19, 2025
https://cordcuttersnews.com/hbo-max-adds-more-ads-to-its-ad-supported-plans/
In a move that has sparked frustration among subscribers, HBO Max (soon to revert to its original name next month) has significantly increased the ad load on its Basic with Ads plan, reneging on its initial promises of a light advertising experience. When the ad-supported tier launched in 2021, the streaming service vowed to limit commercials to no more than four minutes per hour. However, a recent update to the Max support page reveals that subscribers can now expect up to six minutes of ads per hour—a 50 percent increase.
According to archived versions of the support page accessed via the Wayback Machine, the four-minute ad cap was still listed as recently as February 2025 as first spotted by PCWorld. The shift to six minutes appears to have been implemented without fanfare, catching many subscribers off guard. Adding to the discontent, Max has also begun inserting ads into HBO programming, despite an earlier commitment to keep such content ad-free. ….