Netflix is now so ubiquitous a lot of kids have no idea what TV adverts are

82% of children in Netflix-only homes don't know what they are, according to a survey

Screen-based technology gets a lot of stick for its ruinous effect on society, and I’m still haunted by a recent family anecdote involving a toddler trying to swipe a TV screen because they were so used to their parents’ smartphones/tablets.

But there are positives to the on-demand system many homes are now choosing over traditional broadcast ones, in particular, the fact children aren’t subjected to commercials on subscription streaming services.

Last year, we learned how Netflix is saving children from 150 hours of adverts a year, and now a survey by Exstreamist has revealed that 82% of children in Netflix-only homes don’t even know what television adverts are.

The site also reported that 38% of kids in regular television homes don’t know what commercials are, and reported anecdotal evidence of a child visiting a house with regular TV and crying out of confusion when her favourite show was interrupted by an advert break.

“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,” one respondent commented, though another countered: “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.”