A week ago, I wrote on this very blog that I think HBO Max's ad-supported tier makes no sense. This was my opinion after actually using the service. Well, I am not ready to change my account to ad-supported, but I am ready to admit that I was wrong.

HBO Max's $9.99 monthly ad-supported tier is $5 cheaper than the $14.99 ad-free tier. So I created a new account at that price to see what would happen if Warner Media actually delivered on its promise to offer a great ad-supported experience.

To put things in context, HBO Max is a service that adds a lot to the Home Box Office we already know, but is trying to compete in a world where ad-supported content is back in vogue. Sure, Netflix and Disney Plus are ad-free, but Hulu, Peacock, Paramount Plus, and others are all ad-supported for a fee.

Right now, the savings in each ad-free tier is the same: $5 per month. Paramount Plus, which at one point saved only $4, will move to the same $4.99/month vs. $9.99/month structure on June 7.

Hulu offers the same content whether you buy ads or not, but Hulu is the only service that does so. Moving from ad-free to ad-supported would mean that Paramount Plus would cut CBS live broadcasts, Peacock would drastically reduce the number of episodes of movies and TV shows available, and HBO Max would no longer be able to watch Warner Pictures blockbusters that are streamed on the same day as their theatrical release will no longer be available.

HBO Max has also (wisely) decided not to advertise on HBO-branded content. Therefore, we were concerned that ads might be inserted where they were not intended in The Sopranos, but WarnerMedia determined that this would not be the case. There are also no ads in the film "Tenet," currently airing on HBO (which should satisfy HBO Max critic Christopher Nolan).

Early on, I was quite impressed with how minimalist HBO Max's advertising was. In Aquaman, I was greeted by Volkswagen's subtle and unobtrusive ads. The ads in the middle of the film were a bit longer, consisting of a 30-second clip from Aflac and a 15-second spot from Dairy Queen. I also found 45-second long ad breaks in other films including Twister and Rush Hour.

Notably, if I was watching an ad recently and skipped to another part of the movie (you can see a small gap in the timeline) where there should be an ad break, HBO Max did not show another ad. This is probably the smartest thing they could do in terms of not penalizing people who try to jump to a certain moment.

I saw a long ad during a TV show. A clip of about 30 seconds (max) was shown (again) before the "Rick and Morty" episode, and there were one-minute ad breaks for health insurance and Airbnb in the middle of the program. The next ad break was shorter, 30 seconds total, and advertised a car rental service and Pizza Hut.

When the South Park episode began, there was another 15-second Hut clip, followed by a 30-second clip for a medical service called Lilly. The break ended with a 15-second AT&T ad.

The overall message is clear: HBO knows that ads only make sense on TV shows and not so much in movies. I would learn that a minute-long ad break may be annoying, but it is actually the better one.

The HBO Maxx experience is in stark contrast to the opening ad for Hulu's Sorry For Bothering You, a three-second Taco Bell pre-ad (announcing that it is the advertiser), followed by a loud and dashing wig with makeup applied and a big 30-second Taco Bell ad featuring men and women of yesteryear. [23] [24] When I tried to launch "Vice," a 40+ second ad appeared, followed by an advertisement for the new DreamWorks movie "Spirit Untamed" and a local politician (who has already received a good amount of advertising).

Launching an episode of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" was frustrating when a 1 minute and 5 second pre-roll ad appeared. The clip highlighted M.O.D.O.K. and Run The World, and I don't think either show was bad, but having a minute-long ad before the show was annoying to watch. And right after Sunny's opening credits (quite close to the start of the program), commercials advertising upcoming local election polls, progressive auto insurance, and caviar food delivery services ran for over a minute.

Of course, Hulu's habits still seem sparse compared to the few minutes of commercials between shows and during breaks. But the HBO Max experience beats them cleanly.

Next we checked Paramount Plus, where (oddly enough) no ads play during the movie. However, when I started an episode of MTV's The Challenge, it began with a 30-second ad for Bounty paper towels. Not terrible, but still better than Hulu, which doesn't play ads on either side of the opening credits.

That said, I was annoyed with Paramount Plus at the first ad break. The same 30-second Bounty ad played again, and not only that. Another 30-second ad for Kia Motors ran, followed by a 30-second clip for Popeyes Chicken, followed by a 30-second clip for Geico.

The next ad break featured nearly two minutes of advertising for Canva, Sunglass Hut, Guinness, Hotels.com, Peloton, and the Mark Wahlberg movie Infinite. The only thing I could make out was that the Peloton clip had my favorite Gorillaz song (D.A.R.E.). However, I would venture to request a shorter ad break from Paramount Plus.

This was probably the worst.

A quick trip to Peacock revealed that, like HBO Max, they too have ad-free feature films. And the better news is that "Fast Five" (one of the best action films of its generation) is another ad-free film. So is "The Matrix". Each film had a small note on the front that it was showing ad-free, and I got a little more excited each time I saw it.

However, upon further investigation, I found that other programs that seemingly have ads are also ad-free. Indeed, I used to have it set up ad-free, but I haven't paid that extra $5 since April. It seems to be a (lucky) bug for now, but I doubt it will continue.

Overall, my experiments have shown that the amount of ads on HBO Max is definitely better than those on Hulu or Paramount Plus. I wonder where Peacock will land once this strange bug I am experiencing is over. As far as advertising goes, Warner wins.

But the bigger question - posed to me by several colleagues - is simply "How much are you paying to see ads?" To which I replied, "Cable TV has always been like this. As "The Mandalorian" (his show has zero advertising) says, "This is the way.

But when you look at all these ad-supported services and see that the discount for watching ads is the same, the $9.99 price isn't so glaring; HBO Max's base price of $14.99 explains why we pay so much for an ad-supported experience. And since I had already paid that much for HBO Max, I already believe in its quality and am not too upset about the $9.99 price.

I myself might consider an ad-supported HBO Max. But not until 2022, when HBO Max will no longer be available on the same day as Warner Pictures' big movies in theaters.

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