Remove scary ads from Apple Podcast

I listen to podcasts every night to fall asleep, but lately this hasn’t been possible due to an ad being played before almost every single episode. From the transcript of the episode I know that this is not an ad the producer of the show has added themselves.

The ad starts with a sudden, loud ringing noise, almost like an alarm, followed by creepy music and what sounds like clips from a horror movie including terrified-sounding screams. The episodes of the podcast I listen to are about 15-20 minutes and I use a 30-45 minute sleep timer, meaning that this as plays at least once, sometimes twice while I’m trying to sleep.

I find myself jolting awake every night these days because of this ad. I wish the Podcast app had a way to filter ads, as this is truly ruining my nightly sleep. I can also imagine children to find this scary if they were to hear it while listening to a podcast.