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One way that YouTube TV really differentiates itself from its competitors, is by injecting these “Zen Breaks”. While you’re watching live TV, during a commercial break, you’ll sometimes see a Zen break. Which will play some calming nature sounds for a few seconds, or longer, depending on the ad break.
It was a really cool feature, but as Reddit users are starting to notice, YouTube TV is now turning them into ads. So the ad-free Zen break is now an ad. Kind of ironic.
According to Reddit, users are seeing things like “This break brought to you by Progressive”, among other sponsors. From what we’re seeing, this is not audio, just text over the screen. So if you’re not really paying attention – maybe on your phone during the ad-break – you probably won’t see it.
It’s an ad, but less of an ad
Typically, for an hour of live TV, you’ll have to sit through almost 20 minutes of ads. That’s nearly a third of your time. So naturally, we’ve all become a bit annoyed with the number of ads and commercials we see. And this ad from the Zen Break is still an ad, but it’s one that you’re more likely to be less annoyed by.
Since it is not (yet) interrupting your moment of Zen, it’s just some text on the screen. It’s not as bad as some of the ads you’ll see on Hulu or even Netflix, thankfully.
Now, yes, it is quite annoying to be seeing more ads on a service that you already pay at least $72.99 per month for. But don’t forget that Cable costs even more than that. A comparable package is around $120, without the other fees like the sports fee and equipment fee. And you’ll see just as many ads if not more there, due to the Zen breaks not being included in Comcast or Spectrum.
On the other hand, these sponsored Zen Breaks could be used to help offset some of the price hikes that YouTube TV might have otherwise needed to add. Now while it has doubled in the last number of years, YouTube TV is still an incredible value for what you get.
