Streaming platforms used to promise no ads. But those halcyon days are over P art of the allure of streaming platforms used to be the promise of no ads. But now, with more platforms incorporating commercials into their services, they’re becoming impossible to escape/skip.
Obviously not all ads are bad – and they’re vital in funding ITV and Channel 4’s creative output – but we’re still asking for a moratorium on the following relentlessly repeated monstrosities. With her Mr Whippy haircut, German accent and futuristic scooter, zany Aunt Helga really earns her Triple Lock Plus pension by educating hapless technophobes about “old school websites”. It’s played so often on Channel 4 – fka All4 – that it feels like the worst thing involving IT this side of the clown that lures children into sewers.
You’re watching your favourite streamer show then – bosh! – up pops a food delivery ad that’s unlikely to be rated five stars. Perhaps the most annoying are the deathless Uber One ads where Sex Education’ s Asa Butterfield and Robert De Niro embark on an awkward bromance while presumably thinking of the money. In these inescapable Channel 4 and ITVX sponsorship idents, classic movie moments are parodied with the kicker being someone yodelling the catchphrase: “Domino-ooh-hoo! ” The punchline takes so long to be delivered, though, that we should all get free garlic bread as compensation.
In short: an advert zooming into the expressions of babies’ glee.
