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One thing I’ve been discussing recently is a return to a more militant form of cord cutting, trying to wrest some influence from the increasingly anti-consumer streaming services.

Consider the computer in this context. While you may not think a laptop or desktop PC is the best place to watch TV, your computer has all sorts of features that a streaming box doesn’t, including tools that let you skip commercials on ad-supported streaming services.

I’ve been experimenting with one such browser extension called Multi Skipper, which can automatically skip ad breaks on sites like Hulu, Netflix, Pluto, and Peacock. It’s free, easier to use than PlayOn’s streaming DVR software, and mostly works. The biggest catch is the extra hurdles you have to overcome to watch on a real TV.

A streaming extension to skip ads

Multi Skipper is a free browser extension that you can install from the Chrome Web Store. Of course, it works with the desktop Chrome browser, but it also supports other Chromium-based browsers such as Microsoft Edge, Vivaldi, Brave and Opera.

When you install the extension, you’ll see a notice that it can view and modify your data on several websites, namely those of the major streaming providers. Outside of these websites, the extension cannot access your browsing activity, and the developer claims that it neither sells nor shares users’ data.

From this permission query, we can see that Multi Skipper supports the following services: Adult Swim, Amazon Prime Video, Crunchyroll, Disney+, Hulu, Max, Netflix, Paramount+, Peacock, Pluto TV and Tubi.

Once installed, Multi Skipper will appear in your browser’s extension menu. Click on the extension’s icon to see a set of options. By default, the extension skips not only commercials, but also intros and summaries.

It works?

I tested Multi Skipper with the ad-supported versions of Netflix, Hulu, and Peacock, as well as the free streaming services Pluto, Tubi, and Crunchyroll. Rather than blocking ads outright, the extension seems to speed up the ad breaks, like a DVR on autopilot.

When a commercial break occurs, the video may stutter briefly, images of various advertisements may flash across the screen, or a countdown timer may appear to indicate when the program will resume. These breaks last a few seconds at most rather than minutes, but in most cases Multi Skipper skips through the advertisements almost instantly.

There was an occasional ad skipping bug that would cause the video to skip forward for a few seconds after the ad break ended, and Hulu would also experience a playback error that forced me to reload the video. Most of the time, however, the extension worked fine.

Desktop browser required

Jared Newman / Foundry

Jared Newman / Foundry

Jared Newman / Foundry

The biggest downside to Multi Skipper is that it’s only available on desktop web browsers. You can’t access it from your phone, tablet, smart TV, or streaming player, so if you want to skip ads on a TV, you’ll need to stream the video from a laptop or desktop computer to your TV.

One way to do this is to mirror your computer’s screen to a Chromecast, Android TV, or Google TV device: Right-click the video in Chrome, select “Cast,” then select “Cast Screen” from the Sources dropdown menu before selecting your TV from the device list. Note, however, that this may drain laptop battery life, and the video may be choppier than it appears on the computer itself.

Connecting your computer to the TV with an HDMI cable also works. If you want to have full control over your streaming destiny, you can also buy a cheap mini PC and a couch-friendly keyboard instead of a streaming box.

None of these options are ideal, but neither is listening to more and more ad breaks for the same price as ad-free streaming used to cost. I’ve been a cable canceler long enough to remember this exact setup – I used to hook my laptop up to a TV to access Hulu for free before the subscription version even existed – and it’s high time to reinstate that mentality now that streaming services have turned the tables. Multi Skipper is one way to do just that.

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