More and more people are using ad-based streaming services

Platforms for on-demand video and other content have one crucial advantage: they can help avoid ads interrupting a user's chosen show or playlist. On the other hand, this can get expensive as consumers add more and more such services to their lives. However, there are now ad-based alternatives: research show nearly 33% of connected US households use them, compared to 24% last year.

Ad-based video on-demand services are growing in number as time goes on. Examples of these content sources include Viacom's Pluto TV, Sony's Crackle and the Roku Channel. In addition, NBCUniversal will reportedly launch such a platform in 2020. 

A recent survey of US households with high-speed internet and who were aware of which services they used has shown that approximately 55% of these respondents use ad-based video on demand because it is free. This study also concluded that consumers such as these cite variety of programming and ease of access, including the fact that secured logins may not be necessary, as advantages of using ad-based video services.