Submitted 4 months ago by ForgottenFlux@lemmy.world to technology@lemmy.world
https://adguard.com/en/blog/netflix-ad-free-plan-europe.html
Netflix, once a pioneer of ad-free viewing that offered a break from traditional TV norms, is now contemplating launching free ad-supported versions of its service in markets like Europe and Asia, Bloomberg reported.
The plans to offer a free ad-supported tier, albeit in select markets, suggests that pivot towards monetizing user data, in other words — making users and not the extensive library of award-winning shows a product, might be well in the pipeline.
I just wish they could bundle all the subscriptions into packages or bundles and I could watch the shows at pre-determined times.
Stop it. Executives don’t understand sarcasm and you’ve doomed us all!
It’s okay.
Executives got were they are by being smart and making good decisions, not by listening to idiots on the internet.
They could even provide an electronic box (for a nominal fee, or course) that shows me a menu of all the shows and movies that are available and what times they are going to play. That way I wouldn’t have to search through a bunch of streaming services. It could all just be in one place.
Why not sell a book that has that information at grocery stores?
Maybe they could add some kind of auto scrolling view that informs what is playing at those times? That’d be handy, sometimes I can’t find anything to watch.
I’d probably end up watching that more than I watch the shows.
Cool thing about this is they could assemble these bundles into parallel live streams we could simply flick between to find what we prefer to watch. If they run into a problem of people flicking away when ads run then just align the ads to run at the same time on each “channel” if I can call them that ?
They could bundle in my idea of having a telephone in your house, not a cell phone more like a land phone
Tech bros reinvent broadcast TV.
Told people this years ago when pewdie pie became a millionaire selling ads. Like that was the time to wake up and hate every single one of these content creators for selling out and making the internet the hellscape this is. But no we Revere and emulate these people.
This is a bit unnecessarily tough on independent content creators… what exactly do you expect them to do? Make no money from their content? How would they be able to make a living?
Who reveres and emulates PewDiePie lol
Like that was the time to wake up and hate every single one of these content creators for selling out
And then what? Stop consuming their content?
With my NAS, plex and Usenet I reinvented streaming. It’s awesome.
What I fears is that its a matter of Tim before they figure out a way to stop those. I’ve even begun to see discussions that open source may be struggling to remain relevant. Whose taking over for the power houses from early days. So much talent out there. But I really worry the community will shrink over time because we all raiser a generation on the concept of monetization rather than open collaboration. I look out on the internet and the loudest voices are artists and content creators. Both groups who push the fuck you pay me mentality that I believe was not what we all had originally on the internet and it makes me so worried to think how that will only grow if there is no push back.
Im the one that was paying for Netflix for my family, but the password crack down motivated me to learn how to build a server and go full arrs. They had a good thing going, but now that $26 a month will be used to buy hdds.
There’s no better ad for piracy than the greed of corporations. Don’t let ads shit in your head. They disrespect you, you disrespect them.
I have hardware dedicated to blocking ads on my home network.
That will only go so far unfortunately. And network level ad blocking won’t protect you from their ads if they’re served from the same servers the content is.
What hardware do you use? I have a pihole. Unfortunately it doesn’t block ads on Youtube except in the web browser.
“People are taking the piss out of you every day. They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear. They leer at you from tall buildings and make you feel small. They make flippant comments from buses that imply you’re not sexy enough and that all the fun is happening somewhere else. They are on TV making your girlfriend feel inadequate. They have access to the most sophisticated technology the world has ever seen and they bully you with it. They are The Advertisers and they are laughing at you. You, however, are forbidden to touch them. Trademarks, intellectual property rights and copyright law mean advertisers can say what they like wherever they like with total impunity. Fuck that. Any advert in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It’s yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head. You owe the companies nothing. Less than nothing, you especially don’t owe them any courtesy. They owe you. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don’t even start asking for theirs.”
Banksy
This is step 86 in the plan. Step 87 is make people pay for the previously free service
Didn’t they already had a paid and with ads tier?
Yeah but now the roped in new suckers that didn't know they need the product and the price is now 10 per month
Growth hacking. Shake loose more market share with the “FREE!!” version and then the frog boil
“The enshittifucation will continue until profits improve.” --CEOs of Publicly Traded Companies
I’ll take “Organizations that made it to the top by doing something different, only to fall under leadership that doesn’t understand what made them successful and descend into ruins” for 200, Alex.
Netflix can’t do what got them to the top.
Fuck everything about the changes they’ve made for the last several years, but they were always going to hit a wall when content owners put their content on their own platforms.
Netflix can’t do what got them to the top.
They can’t grow that way but they could easily hold on and remain profitable, popular and successful.
They were well on their way to enjoying “Kleenex” or “Oreo” stable market success, but their leadership and shareholders apparently aren’t satisfied with winning.
I worked at Radio Shack in 2012 for a few months and was told by my boss that if a customer wasn’t there to buy a cell phone, be as little help to them as possible.
That’s heartbreaking. Radio Shack was so fun, while it lasted.
It’s a shame they went under during the rise of the maker movement. What an asset they could have been. I remember they started carrying arduino near the end and thought somebody must have tried to reach for their roots. Too little, too late.
It’s almost like all these CEOs and MBAs are just shooting in the dark because of the $$$ in their eyes, but the fact remains that the market is no longer responding favorably to their absolute need for year-over-year growth.
It isn’t? You might be looking at a different market.
“Free ad-supported” makes you no different than a hundred other garbage-tier streaming services.
And in 2 years they’ll move to 3 tiers, free with ads, paid with slightly less ads and even more expensive than before but no ads…
And eventually they’ll just pull the no ads version altogether.
If they aren’t going to charge for access otherwise then I don’t think being ad supported is such a bad thing. Much more honest than subscription pricing and ads in my opinion.
yeah, imo it’s either ads or paid. not both. both is scummy
Streaming is just cable
There is one benefit, at least for now. You aren’t locked into long term contracts like cable has/had.
Imo that’s pretty much the only benefit these days. But I’m also waiting for those 1 year, 2 year, etc “deals” where they offer $1/mo off or something
I expect to see this soon as a way of combatting people who join one for a month or two, binge, then switch to another provider.
It might not come in the form of contracts at first, maybe they will just jack up the price of month to month high enough that people will voluntarily buy into a contract or yearly pre-purchase.
Trust me, there is always a way to make more money if you’re OK with being anti-consumer. It’s just a matter of time.
Not until we’re having to sit through upwards of 20 minutes on ads per “1 hour” episode
but more more inconvenient since now you have about ten different apps instead of everything in the same place.
The difference is that my ad blocker is quick and painless to set up, where TiVo involved some capital and planning.
Didn’t some cable companies get all butthurt that you could fast forward through the recorded commercials?
They will still be selling user data whether you opt for the ad supported tier or not, so get used to that.
The advertising ouroboros continues to devour itself
My Plex share doesn’t care lol
The way the industry is pulling the screws tighter and tighter is just ugly to watch, and it’s hard not to be caught out.
Enshittification? ✔️
I won’t support any streaming service that has a sub+ad tier. Ads with no sub or sub no ads, anything else is incredibly greedy and the same as cable TV.
Life is stupid. What are we even DOING here???
Doesn’t this already exist or did I imagine it?
I thought they introduced it years ago
Do it!
Ill cut subscription to free tier let adblockers do the rest. Profit.
Great for piracy!
Piracy it is then…
still gonna stick to torrents for my media netflix cause i wanna actually have control of them
When my paid service started giving me ads I stopped watching it. I’ve been paying them since before streaming and in the past couple years stopped paying because T-Mobile started paying. When T-Mobile quits paying we’ll close the account.
Obviously the majority of content is not going to be available. It will essentially b a Tubi clone or what Netflix streaming was when they first launched it.
I look forward to when someone releases a box to record the screen or shows you want to watch on Netflix just in case the rights gets pulled before you get the chance to watch it. Added benefit is they can make it skip ads too. Gotta have a catchy name… like… NeVO for Netflix Video On(demand)
Rebrand to CableFlix
Ads provide a much needed break so I can check my phone without missing anything.
/s
They already have an ad tier (tmobile bundles it into some of their plans). Is this going to be an even more ad tier?
Time to bring back Tivo
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Netflix, once a pioneer of ad-free viewing that offered a break from traditional TV norms, is now contemplating launching free ad-supported versions of its service in markets like Europe and Asia, Bloomberg reported.
Greg Peters, Netflix’s co-CEO, recently told The Verge that they view ad sales as “a new muscle” for the streaming giant to “build” and then apparently flex.
According to a recent Madison and Wall survey, cited by Bloomberg, Netflix currently ranks around ninth or tenth in the online video advertising space, all while lagging far behind not only YouTube, but also Disney and Paramount, and struggling to catch up with Amazon and Roku.
Maxine Gurevich of Horizon Media argued that as long as people find the service valuable and the ads are minimally intrusive — that is, highly relevant and engaging — they should not detract from the overall user experience.
For example, Netflix’s intention to show ads during the NFL’s Christmas games to all subscribers, including those in the ad-free tier, is a tad disconcerting.
Only time will tell what happens with Netflix’s subscription tiers, and whether we’ll see moderately priced ad-supported options alongside premium ad-free versions that will be generally out of reach for regular consumers.
The original article contains 589 words, the summary contains 201 words. Saved 66%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
IrateAnteater@sh.itjust.works 4 months ago
In what universe do ads, no matter how “relevant and engaging”, ever not detract from the overall experience?
Nougat@fedia.io 4 months ago
I've been watching Monk recently, without ads, and it's very interesting how television shows used to be written and edited for commercials. It's dead obvious where the commercials used to be, and even that detracts from the overall experience.
CaptDust@sh.itjust.works 4 months ago
Some shows we’ve watched spend their time “recapping” after the ad breaks, playing same scenes we just saw. Drives me nuts and feels so dated.
rand_alpha19@moist.catsweat.com 4 months ago
Same, been watching Dead Like Me and Xena: Warrior Princess and it's pretty distracting when it happens.
altima_neo@lemmy.zip 4 months ago
Its painfully obvious when watching Star Trek TNG.
BearOfaTime@lemm.ee 4 months ago
I don’t mind those breaks… It feels like going to the next chapter in a book.
But actual ads, yea, not for a service that costs.
Though this whole thing is funny - they collect even more user data than they did with cable or broadcast, and now want to show you ads too.
Can’t wait to finish my media server setup.
FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 4 months ago
There are also shows that based jokes around the fact that they were going to or just came back from a commercial break and now you don’t have those in those shows. And now, I guess, they’ll go back to editing shows for ads.
What a weird modern landscape we’ve made for ourselves.
umbrella@lemmy.ml 4 months ago
modern shows frame things differently to account for people watching on tiny phone screens
CileTheSane@lemmy.ca 4 months ago
It’s even worse if you’re watching competition shows: “Coming up: things you’re going to see in the next 5 minutes.” “Welcome back: recap of what you’ve seen in the last 5 minutes.”
criticon@lemmy.ca 4 months ago
I hate ads, but sometimes prime puts 2 minutes of ads at the beginning of a show or a movie and then no ads, I’m ok-ish with this, much better than imdb or tubi that play the same commercial every 15 minutes
If I start a stream and it shows that it will have several breaks I stop it and get it from the high seas
snooggums@midwest.social 4 months ago
I would be fine with that if it was free and didn’t reply the ads if I stop and resume.
If I am paying money, then ads are unacceptable.
Bluefruit@lemmy.world 4 months ago
I wish they wouldn’t do that. If i have to hear about Southern New Hampshire University again I’m gonna hurt somebody.
If I agree to free thing and have to watch ads, aight fine.
But at least make them different man, i hate that they play the same one over and over again. It does not make me want to buy your product.
gibmiser@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Engaging is the last thing I want from an ad
Silentiea@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 months ago
You engage with the skip button
Maggoty@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Especially in shows not edited for commercials. They just throw them in the middle somewhere so the show gets cut mid-sentence. It’s ridiculous. If you want to show me ads after that episode, then fine. But killing the entire pacing of the show for your ads in a service people are paying for already? that’s just infuriating.
Silentiea@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 months ago
Fuck, these days even in shows that are edited for commercials, they’ll ignore those breaks and just put ads wherever they feel like it
Badeendje@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Those ads that are now inserted during the program on us tv shows are annoying as fuck Banner at the bottom or side… Goddamnit.
Silentiea@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 months ago
When is interrupting my viewing experience to show me an ad ever actually relevant?
surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Honest answer? Kids toys ads. The kids love the ads more than the show sometimes.
It sucks for parents though. Gets expensive.
Stovetop@lemmy.world 4 months ago
That shit should be illegal.
olympicyes@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Always does but some implementations are better than others and bills still need to get paid. Network TV can’t force you to watch ads before beginning your program, but streaming can. I’m irritated that Prime has ads even though I pay for it but at least the way they handle them (only before the program starts) is acceptable to me. Interrupting a program to show ads the way YouTube does is horrible customer experience. What’s crazy to me is the way network tv shows have gone from 22 minutes in a 30 minute block to 17-19 minutes.
elver@feddit.uk 4 months ago
Cerveza Cristal?
rottingleaf@lemmy.zip 4 months ago
Maybe some old-school 60s’ “episode is financed by <something very good soap>” text in the beginning?
Or product placement, if the events unfold in our time.
avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 4 months ago
Perhaps to people who are used to watching ad infested cable and don’t pay for ad-free streaming. So it’s not that ads aren’t detracting from the experience but that some folks are used to it.
crank0271@lemmy.world 4 months ago
When the content isn’t that good to begin with?