diff --git a/libavformat/applehttpproto.c b/libavformat/applehttpproto.c
index 2b157095f0..46758ba30f 100644
--- a/libavformat/applehttpproto.c
+++ b/libavformat/applehttpproto.c
@@ -244,6 +244,7 @@ static int applehttp_read(URLContext *h, uint8_t *buf, int size)
     AppleHTTPContext *s = h->priv_data;
     const char *url;
     int ret;
+    int64_t reload_interval;
 
 start:
     if (s->seg_hd) {
@@ -256,12 +257,21 @@ start:
         s->seg_hd = NULL;
         s->cur_seq_no++;
     }
+    reload_interval = s->n_segments > 0 ?
+                      s->segments[s->n_segments - 1]->duration :
+                      s->target_duration;
+    reload_interval *= 1000000;
 retry:
     if (!s->finished) {
         int64_t now = av_gettime();
-        if (now - s->last_load_time >= s->target_duration*1000000)
+        if (now - s->last_load_time >= reload_interval) {
             if ((ret = parse_playlist(h, s->playlisturl)) < 0)
                 return ret;
+            /* If we need to reload the playlist again below (if
+             * there's still no more segments), switch to a reload
+             * interval of half the target duration. */
+            reload_interval = s->target_duration * 500000;
+        }
     }
     if (s->cur_seq_no < s->start_seq_no) {
         av_log(h, AV_LOG_WARNING,
@@ -272,7 +282,7 @@ retry:
     if (s->cur_seq_no - s->start_seq_no >= s->n_segments) {
         if (s->finished)
             return AVERROR_EOF;
-        while (av_gettime() - s->last_load_time < s->target_duration*1000000) {
+        while (av_gettime() - s->last_load_time < reload_interval) {
             if (ff_check_interrupt(&h->interrupt_callback))
                 return AVERROR_EXIT;
             usleep(100*1000);