82% of Kids in ‘Netflix Only’ Homes Have No Idea What Commercials Are

Last year we wrote a story reporting that Netflix saves children from an average of 150 hours of commercials every year. We got several emails from readers telling us that not only does Netflix save their own kids from commercials, but that their kids don’t even know what commercials are.

One reader even noted how when they were visiting some friends and the kids were watching TV on broadcast channels, one of their young daughters started crying when her favorite show was interrupted mid-episode by an ad for the latest and greatest toy or sugary cereal. Having grown up in a Netflix-only home, they think this might be the first time she had even seen a commercial at the age of six.

With this anecdote, we decided to survey parents of young children (below 10 years old) to see how many kids in “Netflix only” homes knew what commercials are, compared to those homes who watch regular television.

We surveyed 100 parents (50 Netflix-only homes, 50 normal television homes), here were their responses:

As you can see in the above graph, kids in “Netflix only” homes are way less likely to know or understand what a television commercial is, especially compared to those in homes with normal television.

  • 82% of kids in Netflix only homes don’t know what commercials are
  • 38% of kids in regular television homes don’t know what commercials are

A few of the comments we received from the survey, bracketed by the type of home they’re in:

  • [Netflix only home] It’s nice being able to leave the TV on for the kids and know they’re not being overwhelmed by ads.
  • [Regular television] We only let the kids watch PBS which doesn’t really have much advertising during children’s programming, but we do also enjoy Netflix and other streaming services with “kids” sections.
  • [Netflix only home] Our two young daughters have probably seen fewer than 10 commercials in their lives, we pretty much only stream kids shows on Netflix and Hulu.
  • [Regular television] I think my kids like the ads, which I know sounds terrible, but they love watching toy commercials on YouTube on the iPad, go figure.

Do you have kids? Are you a Netflix only home, or do you have regular television. Let us know your story in the comments.