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Netflix will show generative AI ads midway through streams in 2026

⁨998⁩ ⁨likes⁩

Submitted ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨abobla@lemm.ee⁩ to ⁨technology@lemmy.world⁩

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/05/netflix-will-show-generative-ai-ads-midway-through-streams-in-2026/

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  • lupusblackfur@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I’m all for services making a reasonable profit and being able to fund new shows and such endeavors…

    But we’re rapidly getting into an environment of “soaking viewers for all we can get out of them” simply to feed the fucking shareholders ever larger payouts.

    🤷‍♂️ 🤦‍♀️ 🖕

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    • Libra@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      There’s a word for that: enshittification

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      • flandish@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        the word is actually “capitalism.” it’s baked into its dna.

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      • GraniteM@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Or sinisterization.

        There was a lot of pioneering in the 70’s. The first home computers, the first video games, the first mobile phones, all right there in the late 70’s. Most people ended the 70’s living like they did in the 60’s but now there’s cool shit like the Speak n’ Spell. The average American home in 1979 had no microwave oven, a landline telephone and a TV that might have even been color. There were some nerds who had TRS-80s, some of them even had a modem so they could 300 baud each other. Normies saw none of this.

        There was a lot of invention in the 80’s. Home computer systems, video games etc. as we now commonly know them crystalized in the 80’s. We emerged from the 80’s with Nintendo as the dominant video game console platform, Motorola as basically the only name in cellular telephones and with x86 PCs running Microsoft operating systems as the dominant computing platform with Apple in a distant but solid second place. Video games were common, home computers weren’t that out there, people still had land lines, and maybe cable TV or especially if you were out in the sticks you might have one of those giant satellite dishes. If you were a bit of an enthusiast you might have a modem to dial BBSes and that kind of stuff, but basically no one has an email address.

        There was a lot of evolution in the 90’s. With the possible exception of the world wide web which was switched on in August of '91, there weren’t a lot of changes to how computing worked throughout the decade. Compare an IBM PS/2 from 1989 with a Compaq Presario from 1999. 3 1/4" floppy disk, CRT monitor attached via VGA, serial and parallel ports, keyboard and mouse attached via PS2 ports, Intel architecture with Microsoft operating system…it’s the same machine 10 years later. The newer machine runs orders of magnitude faster, has orders of magnitude more RAM etc. but it still broadly speaking fills the same role in the user’s life. An N64 is exactly what you’d expect the NES to look like after a decade. Cell phones have gotten sleeker and more available but it’s still mostly a telephone that places telephone calls, it’s the same machine Michael Douglas had in that one movie but now no longer a 2 pound brick. Bring a tech savvy teen from 1989 to 1999 and it won’t take long to explain everything to him. The World Wide Web exists now, but a lot of retailers haven’t embraced the online marketplace, the dotcom bubble bursts, it’s not quite got the permanent grip on life yet.

        There was a lot of revolution in the 2000’s. Higher speed internet that allow for audio and video streaming, mp3 players and the upheaval those caused, the proliferation of digital cameras, the rise of social media. When I graduated high school in 2005, there were no iPhones, no Facebook, no Twitter, no Youtube. Google was a search engine that was gaining ground against Yahoo. The world was a vastly different place by the time I was through college. Take that savvy teen from 1989 and his counterpart from 1999 and explain to them how things work in 2009. It’ll take a lot longer. In 2009 we had a lot of technology that had a lot of potential, and we were just starting to realize that potential. It was easy to see a bright future.

        There was a lot of stagnation in the 2010’s. We started the decade with smart phones and social media, and we ended the decade with smart phones and social media. Performance numbers for machines kept going up but you kinda don’t notice; you buy a new phone and it’s so much faster and more responsive, 4 years later it barely loads web pages and takes forever to launch an app because mobile apps are gaseous, they expand to take up their system. A lot of handset manufacturers have given up so now there are fewer options, and they’ve converged to basically one form factor. Distinguishing features are gone, things we used to be able to do aren’t there anymore. The excitement wore off, this is how we do things now, and now everyone is here. Mobile app stores are full of phishing software, you’re probably better advised to just use the mobile browser if you can, mainstream video gaming is now just skinner boxes, and by the end of the decade social media is all about propaganda silos and/or attention draining engagement slop.

        Now we arrive in the 2020’s where we find a lot of sinisterization. A lot of the tech world is becoming blatantly, nakedly evil. In truth this began in the 2010’s, it’s older than 4 years, but we’re days away from the halfway point of the decade and it’s becoming difficult to see the behavior of tech and media companies as driven only by greed, some of this can only come from a deep seated hatred of your fellow man. People have latched onto the term “enshittification” because it’s got the word shit in it and that’s hilarious, but…I see a spectrum with the stagnation of the teens represented with a green color and the sinisterization of the 20’s represented with red, and the part in the middle where red and green make brown is enshittification.

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    • Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I’m amazed that ads are so effective that they can make more cramming unwanted video in my face than just asking me for a couple bucks.

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      • Aux@feddit.uk ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        No one wants to pay money for the services they’re using. Ads is the way to go.

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    • ferrule@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      you just need to keep a shit list of brands that are now dead to you.

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      • spankmonkey@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        I have a dwindling list of brands that are not yet dead to me.

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      • gradual@lemmings.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        All of them.

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    • adarza@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      they already make significantly more profits off of each ad-tier sub than they do the ad-free… yet it still isn’t enough. greedy fucking bastards.

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      • Don_alForno@feddit.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        How is showing me ads for things I will make a point not to buy because I implicitly hate the products of people showing me ads more profitable than the twenty fucking bucks a month I already give them?

        Imagine if all that misallocated marketing budget got used to develop better products instead.

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  • ininewcrow@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    YAHAR!!! HOIST THE MAIN SAILS!!!

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    • knighthawk0811@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      ahoy!

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    • modifier@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      The seas are truly splendid. I can only but pity the landlubbers.

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  • shittydwarf@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    They want the old cable tv days back, but worse

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    • fakeplastic@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
      [deleted]
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      • Libra@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Streaming was different for years and years. But then people got greedy.

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      • 11111one11111@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Way late to the party cuz im browsing top posts for the week, but you reminded me of how I refused to believe my father when he said cable TV used to be ad free. He said it was the whole point of paying for it back then cuz paying for TV didn’t exist yet.

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      • 11111one11111@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Way late to the party cuz im browsing top posts for the week, but you reminded me of how I refused to believe my father when he said cable TV used to be ad free. He said it was the whole point of paying for it back then cuz paying for TV didn’t exist yet.

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    • ogmios@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      It’s quite something how they’re trying to force the Internet to work as an artificial version of things we already have, instead of using it for the unique purposes which it can actually fulfill.

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    • Libra@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      They want the old cable TV days, but worse, and filling their pockets instead.

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    • chaosCruiser@futurology.today ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Youtube is also trying to be more like TV. Apparently, TV wasn’t bad enough.

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    • deathbird@mander.xyz ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Nice thing is it can’t come back. There are too many other sources of entertainment and information to make one feel like one is missing out by simply opting out.

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  • Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    This gem might need an update.

    Image

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    • hOrni@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I’m kinda proud of myself, that I skipped Netflix and never took off my pirate hat.

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      • D_C@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        I never took off my pirates hat but I have had a netflix account for about a year…
        …
        It wasn’t my account. One of my kids friends signed in to their profile on my TV so I used it every now and again until the password sharing option was taken away.

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    • MunkysUnkEnz0@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Stremio plus real debrid for the win…

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  • Maxxie@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    “[Netflix] members pay as much attention to midroll ads as they do to the shows and movies themselves,” Amy Reinhard, president of advertising at Netflix, said, per the publication.

    Amy, I want you to be honest with me, are you an alien.

    Because on planet Earth we do not, if fact, pay as much attention to the ads as to the things we’re actually interested in. Famously our brains even produce this fascinating effect to spare us from the bullshit you’re shoving into our eyeballs.

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    • StarshotJohn@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I’m just waiting for it to be like that Black Mirror episode where ads came on, the guy closed his eyes, and alarms went off until he opened them again.

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      • SufferingSteve@feddit.nu ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        The bad thing about those kind of shoes, is that while most people see that as a warning, and something to avoid.

        Some people immediately start charting a path to how to make it a reality, and sometimes those people are very very smart and can chart a path that might take decades.

        I say this while on the toilet, writing on a device that has cameras both front and back, always on microphones and location sensors, and facial recognition and 3D scanning equipment.

        When the personalized condom ads start popping up, I will only be slightly annoyed.

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    • themagzuz@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      i think in netflix’s case, they might actually be paying as much attention to the ads as they do the shows, which is to say none at all

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      • SilverFlame@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        This is exactly how I interpreted that statement. No one is paying attention, who cares if they slip some garbage ads in?

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    • JcbAzPx@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      “People watch ads,” says the one selling ads.

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  • Treczoks@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    They show me an ad, and they are out. It is that simple. Luckily, my life does not depend on streaming.

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    • froh42@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Haha, already there. I canceled my Netflix a year ago or so after the amount of cheap self produced stuff got too much and they removed more and more older quality content.

      Now, whenever I want to stream I sign up for a single streaming service for a month or two - but the time where I was just subscribed all the time is over.

      Ah one reason also was the sharing crackdown, I had kept the subscription long term as my kids used it when they were at my place or my ex-wife’s. Nowadays it doesn’t work anymore as (for example) the TV my son has at the ex-wife’s place never is connected via my internet.

      With added commercials, less quality etc streaming got less attractive. Hey, nowadays I regularly go to movie theaters, again.

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  • Libra@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Netflix will what now? Sorry, I was busy canceling my netflix account.

    Kidding, I canceled it ages ago when the $10 version became SD-only with ads.

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    • ogmios@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Why do we keep paying people like this to enshittify everything?

      Because if you refuse to destroy yourself, your family, and the rest of the world, they’ll import 3rd worlders who will do it because they’re being threatened.

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    • Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Cause a lot of times it’s a family account and only one person actually realized how bad of a deal it is.

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      • Libra@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        I mean we keep signing up for services because they’re convenient or fun or interesting and every single time they start cutting corners, worsening services, being more invasive with ads, and charging more and more for the ‘privilege’ of doing whatever it was you were doing there. Why do we keep falling for that and then being surprised when it ends up in the same place as the last 12 platforms or whatever?

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  • cupcakezealot@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    i just subscribe to the netflix tier that serves all streams as torrents

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    • jjlinux@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Same here. Best part is that they even have non-Netflix media in that tier. Love it.

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  • cley_faye@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Between that, price hike, and some weirdly low quality content because you don’t use this or that browser, netflix really wants people to stop their subscriptions it seems.

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    • Squizzy@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      High seas baby!

      There is surely a recognisable pattern here in which people leave because of this shit and to keep the flow of money going up they then have to further reduce quality by increasing ads.

      I deleted my facebook a few weeks ago and signing in for the first time in years gave a look at what it became and it was unrecognisable.

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    • THB@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Yup, I’m finishing off a couple shows and it’s on the chopping block. Easy choice

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    • Ushmel@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      99% of people won’t care besides passive complaining at the water cooler, unfortunately

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    • CalipherJones@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Netflix is the worst of the streaming channels these days.

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  • Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    94 million people decided $10 a month savings was worth watching ads rather than doing without. Fuck em. They are the reason many things only have an ad supported tier. Pay for stuff or pirate it, but don’t use ad supported tiers when you have a choice.

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    • Rolive@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I paid for the ad tier of disneyplus and use an adblocker. Seems to work well so far.

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      • Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        I will call that a grey area. You still count on the roles as a sub of the ad tier. And probably in all the data it assumes you saw the ads. So it helps perpetuate the problem. But if enough people do it, it will reduce whar advertisers pay, which might reduce the problem.

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    • octopus_ink@slrpnk.net ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      This is straight up victim blaming.

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      • Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        By what leap of logic do you come to that conclusion. We are talking about entertainment here. Not housing or food. Doing without is an option, and there is plenty of competition to use instead.
        People rail against the rich for caring only about money. But when they make thier own decisions, they do the same. Money first. You pay for ADs with your time first. Then you pay again when ever you buy anything, because advertising whether you saw it or not is part of the price of everything. Paying for your time back alone, would be worth the price. But people put money first. And we all lose. Well except the wealthy.

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  • Jakule17@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Yarrr

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    • TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      The only limitation on sailing the high seas is that the video and sound quality are not as great as legit streaming. You get descriptions that claim it is ripped full 4k or HD, but when actually looking at the encoding, it is not the case. But what can we do? If we are being made to stream in shit, it is better to sail in blue ocean high seas.

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      • whaleross@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        I hear a whisper in the wind about file size being a distinct though not foolproof hint of quality.

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      • MalReynolds@slrpnk.net ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        You are aware that Netflix et.al. put compression on their streams (usually quite a bit in regards to bitrate) ? It is often the case that BluRay rips etc. are available better on the high seas…

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      • floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        *only if you use the Netflix app on “supported platforms”

        I guess the answer to your question is to get on a private tracker for high-quality releases ;)

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      • verdantbanana@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        vlc has the codec information in the tool menu

        atmos and even dts x are very findable

        have a 5.1.4 system hooked up by hdmi to the igpu and the video to the gpu

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      • wanderingmagus@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        That’s why you do several magnets, to be sure, and discard the ones that are bullshit, if you’re worried about that. Haven’t had any problems myself, other than theater cam for the newest new movies.

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      • Jakule17@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        I don’t give a fock about quality, I’m watching for the plot

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  • mriswith@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    If I pay for a service and get ads, that service is dead to me forever.

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    • gradual@lemmings.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Always sad watching people complain about ads on free streaming sites which can be easily blocked with an adblocker while defending their subscription to netflix.

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      • Honytawk@feddit.nl ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Since when is Netflix free?

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      • dellish@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Huh?? If a streaming site (or any product for that matter) is free, the user is the product - be it their time, personal info, whatever. It is known and accepted that a “free” service will have a catch that allows the provider to make money.

        If a user PAYS for a service it is expected that the payment is enough remuneration for there to be no strings attached. Of course companies will look for shitty ways to do shitty things to make more money, and those companies ought to be punished, generally by a reduction in customers, for their shitty behaviour.

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      • b3an@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        They said if they PAY to use… and get ads. They are right, I ditched tv for streaming because less ads. Now they want to go full circle? I feel like I can’t even open up the fridge these days without having some agenda or ad start.

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    • Aux@feddit.uk ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      But you’re only getting ads if you choose to get them. What’s your problem exactly?

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  • Almacca@aussie.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I’ve gone back to books.

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    • Rooty@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Spent waaay too much on a single volume illustrated edition of the all Earthsea books. My weekend is going to be lit.

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      • Gismonda@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Oh shit….I need to go get that!

        (Speaking of books …. time to go see if that fancy hardback edition of Cibola**Burn is ever going to get released.

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      • Echolynx@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        I’ve just been thinking of going back to Earthsea!

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    • deathbird@mander.xyz ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Ooh everyone look at Mr smarty pants over here being all literate.

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  • eighty@aussie.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    “[Netflix] members pay as much attention to midroll ads as they do to the shows and movies themselves,” Amy Reinhard, president of advertising at Netflix, said, per the publication.

    In terms of attention, she’s either lying or admitting that members barely pay attention to their content.

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  • MilitantAtheist@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    No they won’t 🏴‍☠️

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  • Bebopalouie@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Image

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  • Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Either they have great technology, or they have great entertainment,” she said. “Our superpower has always been the fact that we have both.

    Please. Your software is an image carousel and a video player.

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  • umbrella@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️ cmon people, stop making netflix relevant

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  • DeadNinja@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    The sooner people realize that the subscribers are nothing more than super-slow-boiled frogs to them, the better.

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  • PattyMcB@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    “Millions of former subscribers will cancel their accounts in 2026”

    FTFY

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  • Railcar8095@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Is this feature coming to Sonarr/Radar + Jellyfin? /s

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  • Jimmycakes@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Pirating has never felt so good. Normally I’m indifferent to it but now I’m enjoying it.

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  • joel_feila@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    So the dead Internet extends to streaming.

    Also anyone else interested in just crazy an ai add what will be.

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  • essteeyou@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I was looking to cut down on subscriptions and picked Netflix as an experimental one. I haven’t missed it at all. Things like this make me less likely to occasionally reactivate for a couple of months as I was originally planning.

    I wonder when they’ll see a big enough effect to break their current run of fucking over their customers.

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  • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I’m sorry, did you say Netflix is going to be pirated aggressively for the few shows that aren’t complete slop?

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  • m3t00@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    ads will continue until subscriptions improve

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  • GoodOleAmerika@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Well piracy is the only way then.

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  • MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Soo… the ad income is higher than the energy costs of gen. AI? They lied about the pennies per visit?

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  • Kolanaki@pawb.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Soon may the Pirateman come,

    To bring us movies, games, and… Rum.

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  • vordalack@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Each day brings us closer to either Cyberpunk 2077 or Bladerunner

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