Ads! Ads! Just too many ads! At this point, we can all admit that any subscription plan from JioHotstar, except the premium one, has become absolutely worthless. It’s like JioHotstar executives are deliberately trying to force people to shift to the premium plan, which a large section of the platform’s users don’t consider affordable. Complaints about the increased frequency of ads and ad-slots are popping up on social media on a daily basis. But it seems like the platform doesn’t give a damn about this.
The latest victim of this mess is DCU’s new show, Peacemaker Season 2. Created by James Gunn, the second season serves as a follow-up to the events of Superman (2025) and explores Chris Smith’s life as he encounters a secret door in his late father’s house. The door leads him to a quantum chamber, ultimately revealing a parallel universe where his dead brother Keith and his father are alive.
Sounds interesting, right? But JioHotstar is spoiling Peacemaker Season 2 for many diehard DC fans. Season 2, Episode 1 runs nearly 43 minutes. And JioHotstar crams in four ad-slots, each containing three ads (around 15–30 seconds each). That means viewers are forced to sit through nearly 3 to 6 minutes of ads in a 43-minute episode. Is this some kind of a joke?
What’s even more baffling is why Peacemaker is getting this treatment? Other HBO Max originals on the platform are completely ad-free. For instance, the critically acclaimed comedy-drama series Hacks is running without a single ad.
Let’s keep HBO Max originals aside for a moment and talk about anime. Take Demon Slayer. Each episode is around 23–25 minutes long, and yet viewers are forced to endure three ad-slots (each with three unskippable ads). Some of these ads even stretch to 40–45 seconds.
While a certain amount of advertising might be a necessary evil for a streaming service to remain affordable, JioHotstar’s current approach feels less like a compromise and more like a punishment. It feels like the streamer is hell-bent on punishing users who didn’t opt for the premium plan. With this ad model, JioHotstar not only disrespects its own extensive content library but also its users’ time and patience.
Titles like Peacemaker and Demon Slayer are some of the top names in their respective genres. So stuffing them with endless ads, frustrating users, and then declaring yourself the number one provider of diverse content in India is nothing short of an insult. These titles, and others like them, are the kind that could bring massive viewership to JioHotstar in the future. But the streamer is burying them under ads. No wonder piracy is growing in India! Stay tuned for more updates.