Paramount Plus Premium subscribers should only see promotional interruptions or advertisements on select shows for on-demand content, while live shows may still have regular commercials.
Paramount Plus is just one of the many streaming services available on the market, but it does have a wide variety of shows and movies for its subscription price.
Paramount Plus does have a more expensive Premium subscription package that is not supposed to have any commercials for on-demand content, but the package still has promotional interruptions, previews, and advertisements on select shows.
About Paramount Plus
With streaming services basically replacing satellite television in most households, choosing between the various providers and their different packages can be difficult.
Paramount Plus started out as CBS All Access, and it offers a wide variety of live and on-demand content.
Paramount Plus does not have the sleek and user-friendly interfaces and flashy original content that other streaming services have, but it is relatively affordable, and it has a wide selection of shows and movies to watch.
Why does Paramount Plus have commercials?
Paramount Plus offers a variety of packages, so that customers can enjoy the service no matter what their budget is.
This includes the less expensive Essential plan, which costs $4.99 a month or $49.99 annually and the Premium plan, which used to be called the Commercial Free plan and it is $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year.
The main way that Paramount Plus justifies the price difference between these two packages is by stating that Premium subscribers can enjoy their on-demand content without advertisements.
However, some subscribers have been shocked to find that even though they pay for this more expensive version of Paramount Plus, they are still seeing advertisements when they stream content on the platform.
There are a few reasons why this could be happening. The first reason that you may still be seeing commercials, even though you are subscribed to the Paramount Plus Premium package, is probably the most frustrating reason.
Paramount Plus does not screen commercials during their on-demand streaming content, but they do show what they call “promotional interruptions”, to keep viewers up to date on all of the new Paramount Plus content.
The second reason why you may be seeing commercials even though you have a Premium subscription is because you are watching a live event, during which commercials are unavoidable, or because of a contractual agreement between the owner of the content and their advertisers.
However, if you suspect that you are seeing more commercials than you should be, you can contact Paramount Plus to try and help you figure out what is going wrong.
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What are promotional interruptions?
Sometimes, the promotional interruptions that Paramount Plus places in the middle of their own original shows and movies that are meant to educate viewers about all of the other content that is available to them on their Paramount Plus subscription, can be mistaken for commercials.
These promotional interruptions can occur up to two times during any Paramount Plus original content in a similar way that a commercial would.
Yet, since they are not meant to sell viewers any new products or services, Paramount Plus does not see or label them as commercials and Premium subscribers will still see these 10 to 15 second interruptions in their content.
You may also still see previews of new original content at the beginning of any Paramount Plus show, even if you are a Premium subscriber and this is unlikely to change.
Why do live events and other types of content still have ads for Premium subscribers?
Live television streams have commercials or advertisements regardless of which Paramount Plus subscription package you have, because the event is broadcast live and there is no time to edit out the advertisements as they happen.
However, live content is not the only content where the owners of the show or event have contractual agreements with advertisers to uphold when their content is being screened.
This is why select shows on Paramount Plus still have commercials, even for viewers with Premium subscriptions, if the content is not directly owned by Paramount Plus.
What can you do if you are seeing too many commercials?
If you feel like you are seeing too many commercials on your Paramount Plus Premium subscription that do not fall into the live television, select shows, or even promotional interruption or preview categories, then you need to contact Paramount Plus via the Contact Us page.
By doing this, you are ensuring that you are registered for the correct subscription package.
It can also be helpful to sign out of your account and then sign back in if you have only recently switched over to the Premium package.