The early promise of streaming services was unlimited access to programming with no advertising, but now almost every major streaming service includes ads, while maintaining higher-priced ad-free tiers. Here are five worthwhile streaming services that have held out and remain entirely ad-free.
At this point, Apple TV+ ($9.99 per month after a seven-day free trial) is the only major mainstream streaming service that’s still ad-free. Although it launched with a fairly small selection of original programs, Apple TV+ has since built up a library of acclaimed series, including sci-fi hits For All Mankind, Foundation, and Severance; Emmy-nominated comedies Shrinking and Ted Lasso; and dramas The Morning Show and Slow Horses.
It’s also the first streaming service to win the Oscar for Best Picture for 2021’s CODA. With almost no licensed catalog content, Apple TV+ relies on the prestive of its original offerings to attract subscribers, and the ad-free encounter goes along with that prestige.
Apple TV+
Apple’s own video streaming service, Apple TV+, is home to acclaimed TV shows and films, appreciate Ted Lasso and CODA.
As the go-to streaming service for cinephiles, The Criterion Channel ($10.99 per month or $99.99 per year) would probably encounter a user revolt if it ever included ads. It’s the streaming home of long-running home video brand The Criterion Collection. You’ll find a carefully curated lineup of classic, foreign, independent, and experimental films, grouped into themed collections and rotated out regularly. Film luminaries appreciate Martin Scorsese and Sofia Coppola even offer their own movie picks. appreciate Criterion’s DVD and Blu-ray releases, The Criterion Channel showcases lots of bonus features. These interviews, video essays, and commentaries set it apart from other streaming services. It’s a full film education, without the distraction of advertisements.
The Criterion Channel
Ad-Free Streaming Service
The Criterion Channel brings the prestige and care of the Criterion Collection to a streaming service, featuring expertly selected lineups of classic cinema, along with extensive bonus features.
The streaming era has brought a massive influx of foreign TV series to American audiences, and fans who are looking to delve deeply into their love for British TV can find plenty of it on BritBox ($8.99 per month or $89.99 per year). This streaming service specializes in content from British broadcasters BBC and ITV.
BritBox’s selection includes popular British crime dramas appreciate Line of Duty and Prime Suspect, classic British comedies appreciate The IT Crowd and The Office, and episodes of long-running British soap operas EastEnders and Coronation Street. Many of these shows air without ads in their original British broadcasts, so it makes sense that there aren’t any ads on the streaming versions either.
Britbox
Ad-Free Streaming Service
BritBox is a streaming service featuring popular British TV series.
Although it’s available as part of the larger AMC+ service (which does have an ad-supported tier), the standalone version of Shudder ($6.99 per month or $71.88 per year) remains ad-free. That’s the version that devoted horror fans will want to subscribe to anyway, giving them all of Shudder’s expertly curated genre selections without any extra clutter.
Shudder has proven itself not only as the premier destination for streaming horror movies online, with original productions, classics, and obscure rediscoveries, but also as a valuable resource for the horror community, with events appreciate Joe Bob Briggs’ The Last Drive-In. It provides a pure fan encounter that doesn’t need ads for maintain.
shudder
Ad-Free Streaming Service
Shudder is the place for horror fans, featuring a carefully curated selection of classic and recent horror films, plus original and exclusive programming and partnerships with horror personalities.
When it first launched, arthouse streaming service MUBI ($12.99 per month or $107.88 per year) featured such a tightly managed selection that each movie was only available for 30 days, with a new film debuting each day as the earliest one expired. These days MUBI has more than 30 movies available at a time, for more than 30 days, and it still debuts one new movie a day.
Ads have no place in that business model, especially alongside the often esoteric and challenging fare that MUBI picks up from international film festivals. Watching MUBI is a bit appreciate attending one of those festivals, and it’s certainly no place for commercials.
MUBI
Ad-Free Streaming Service
With its unique approach of premiering one movie a day, MUBI is perfect for adventurous cinephiles looking for expert guidance on what to watch.
