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Ads on Amazon Prime are infuriating. And I can't help think how annoying it must be for people with disabilities. My other bugbear are the auto playing videos

Ads on Amazon Prime are infuriating. And I can't help think how annoying it must be for people with disabilities. My other bugbear are the auto playing videos on Netflix and the use of massive spoilers in episode thumbnails. As a single consumer in a vast ocean I don't think my opinions will ever be listened to. Right now it's worth putting up with this crap as the benefits outweigh the cost but if it gets any worse I'll be unsubscribing.

ilikepi 6y ago
> My other bugbear are the auto playing videos on Netflix and the use of massive spoilers in episode thumbnails. You can actually turn off "Autoplay previews" now. You have to log into your account from a web browser, and then look at the Playback settings for the profile you want to change.
- tinus_hn 6y ago
  Note that this anti anti feature was introduced quietly so not everyone may have noticed it yet.
- aidos 6y ago
  What you can’t turn off is the bit where they drop you into another trailer when you’ve just finished watching a series after months of investment. A little time to digest would be real nice.
  - navbaker 6y ago
    Your "time to digest" is Netflix's "fleeting window of opportunity to keep you engaged" or whatever businessy term describes that.
    - jbay808 6y ago
      They aren't Facebook. They just need to keep me subscribed, not engaged. I bet someone has an engagement OKR anyway, though.
      - dhnajsjdnd 6y ago
        Hours of video watched per month is metric Netflix tries to optimize, because it predicts churn. If a customer is spending decreasing hours on Netflix and watching Disney instead, they are more likely to cancel. Goodhart's law applies. If a customer is watching more Netflix because they are binging some fantastic new context, that’s great for Netflix. If the customer watching more because the app keeps auto playing something they didn’t ask for and gradually pisses them off, not so good. Netflix might have better ways of measuring customer satisfaction that can tell if these behaviors make the customer more satisfied overall.
  - js2 6y ago
    Every single video app I have on my AppleTV: Netflix, Amazon, Criterion, even Apple’s own TV app, shrinks whatever you are watching down to a thumbnail just before the movie or show ends. I fucking hate it. Yes, I’m one of those weirdos who sits through to the end when the copyright rolls past and gets pissed off when the lights come on at a theater during the credits. It is incredibly disrespectful to the film. This is one of those “good taste” things that I feel like Steve Jobs wouldn’t have tolerated. It’s especially annoying on some older films with short end credits because it happens before the movie is even over.
    - wst_ 6y ago
      You should consider moving to Japan then. Theater stays dark until the last line of credits passes. Actually this is nice thing. You can still listen to the music, pay silent respects to the horde of people involved or just contemplate the movie.
      - gdilla 6y ago
        many many people in LA stay for the credits too. naturally.
    - princetman 6y ago
      I get the sentiment for live performance, but in your own home, I can not relate to this. Vast majority of people in credits are doing a job and getting paid for it, just like any other profession or trade. We don't pay "respect" to delivery drivers, or to designers and engineers who brings us our gadgets and services in same way. Why should I spend my time and attention on credit rolls? It's not like anyone noticing it.
      - dylan604 6y ago
        You don't tip? Tips are showing your respect for deliveries. Also, most gadgets I've seen have a screen that can be viewed with credits in them, as well as most software. Video games have credits too. Books have credits too, right there on the cover and is probably what grabs your attention more than the title.
  - madjam002 6y ago
    Yep, this is what I hate. Finishing a TV show, taking it all in, only to find myself scrambling for the remote to press Watch Credits so it doesn’t move on to some random trailer. The Kodi Netflix add-on might not have the best interface, but at least it doesn’t do stuff like this!
- avian 6y ago
  What you still can’t turn off AFAIK is the video starting to play in the background if you go to the “more info” menu. At least on the Android TV app.
- corin_ 6y ago
  I have it turned off in my profile, which works nearly everywhere, but doesn't have any effect on the Apple TV netflix app.
- 5988 6y ago
  oh cool
hellojason 6y ago
> auto playing videos on Netflix You can now disable this at the account level. They added the option a few months back.
- wolco5 6y ago
  They removed this feature and I like the rollover previews. Where can you change this?
fredzel 6y ago
Pretty annoying when they run you trailers of a sequel before you even finished the first one because 'you might be interested' - sometimes even the thumbnail is a spoiler.
ascagnel_ 6y ago
> Ads on Amazon Prime are infuriating. And I can't help think how annoying it must be for people with disabilities. I usually watch TV with subtitles on (it means I can have the volume a little lower), and I find that cases where pre-roll ads are inserted either don't adjust the subtitle sync or don't adjust it properly. Amazon's subtitles are generally 1-2s ahead of the video, which is just enough to let the air out of a big reveal or ruin a joke.
jonpurdy 6y ago
This is a great example of why I still prefer torrenting films and TV shows as opposed to using my wife’s Netflix sub: the pirated media is better! Netflix and Hulu and competing with easier to use and more flexible pirated media, whether they like it or not. The consistency and flexibility of the VLC interface (or whatever media player you choose) is vastly better than whatever features a Netflix PM is trying to push to juice their metrics. (I won’t even get into unskippable screens on Blu-Ray discs which are removed on the pirate version.)
- matheusmoreira 6y ago
  Yeah, piracy is almost always the better service. How the hell can a bunch of enthusiasts come up with a better service than multi-billion dollar companies? They seriously need to stop and rethink their industry. When I use my Netflix I get a horribly compressed "high definition" picture, annoying autoplaying ads for shows I don't care about and a constantly decreasing amount of content. Piracy offers the opposite of all that: high quality encodes, no bullshit ads anywhere and complete collections of everything.
  - corin_ 6y ago
    They become multi billion companies by having different incentives (making profit) than the enthusiasts.
  - tartoran 6y ago
    I think all creators should have a pirates donations box so pirated content doesn’t impact the creators that much.
    - sundvor 6y ago
      Does watching hq torrents of content I have legal access to count? :) My 960 GPU in the htpc doesn't quite have the bit depth that Netflix wants, therefore it disables 4k entirely. Bought the GPU at the time as it was the first with hardware HECV, has zero issues playing back a 4k encoding by someone else..
ballenf 6y ago
Ads on Prime on kids content is especially frustrating. My biggest goal with kids is to help them with their focus and limit exposure to "infinity pools" of content. It's not that I have a problem with the content of the ads, it's that they train kids' brains to want to switch quickly between content the moment a show has a lull. It creates that FOMO that they might not be watching the most exciting show right now because the ad always makes the other show look way better. Youtube is of course the epitome of this issue, although disabling the mini-player on kids content helps a little.
- kalleboo 6y ago
  I do have a problem with the content of the ads on kids videos - I've seen violence in some of them
DanBC 6y ago
My current favourite sketch about popup ads: https://twitter.com/thepincomedy/status/1349299943576662017?s=20 https://twitter.com/thepincomedy/status/1349299943576662017?...
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simplerman 6y ago
> Ads on Amazon Prime are infuriating. And I can't help think how annoying it must be for people with disabilities. Or people with small kids.
Psype 6y ago
Actually, ads on Prime videos are for their other shows, and skippable. I discovered nice shows that way. But I agree, we should have at least 2 easy options in settings: - Never show ads for other shows - Always skip opening themes

ilikepi 6y ago

> My other bugbear are the auto playing videos on Netflix and the use of massive spoilers in episode thumbnails. You can actually turn off "Autoplay previews" now. You have to log into your account from a web browser, and then look at the Playback settings for the profile you want to change.

tinus_hn 6y ago
Note that this anti anti feature was introduced quietly so not everyone may have noticed it yet.
aidos 6y ago
What you can’t turn off is the bit where they drop you into another trailer when you’ve just finished watching a series after months of investment. A little time to digest would be real nice.
- navbaker 6y ago
  Your "time to digest" is Netflix's "fleeting window of opportunity to keep you engaged" or whatever businessy term describes that.
  - jbay808 6y ago
    They aren't Facebook. They just need to keep me subscribed, not engaged. I bet someone has an engagement OKR anyway, though.
    - dhnajsjdnd 6y ago
      Hours of video watched per month is metric Netflix tries to optimize, because it predicts churn. If a customer is spending decreasing hours on Netflix and watching Disney instead, they are more likely to cancel. Goodhart's law applies. If a customer is watching more Netflix because they are binging some fantastic new context, that’s great for Netflix. If the customer watching more because the app keeps auto playing something they didn’t ask for and gradually pisses them off, not so good. Netflix might have better ways of measuring customer satisfaction that can tell if these behaviors make the customer more satisfied overall.
- js2 6y ago
  Every single video app I have on my AppleTV: Netflix, Amazon, Criterion, even Apple’s own TV app, shrinks whatever you are watching down to a thumbnail just before the movie or show ends. I fucking hate it. Yes, I’m one of those weirdos who sits through to the end when the copyright rolls past and gets pissed off when the lights come on at a theater during the credits. It is incredibly disrespectful to the film. This is one of those “good taste” things that I feel like Steve Jobs wouldn’t have tolerated. It’s especially annoying on some older films with short end credits because it happens before the movie is even over.
  - wst_ 6y ago
    You should consider moving to Japan then. Theater stays dark until the last line of credits passes. Actually this is nice thing. You can still listen to the music, pay silent respects to the horde of people involved or just contemplate the movie.
    - gdilla 6y ago
      many many people in LA stay for the credits too. naturally.
  - princetman 6y ago
    I get the sentiment for live performance, but in your own home, I can not relate to this. Vast majority of people in credits are doing a job and getting paid for it, just like any other profession or trade. We don't pay "respect" to delivery drivers, or to designers and engineers who brings us our gadgets and services in same way. Why should I spend my time and attention on credit rolls? It's not like anyone noticing it.
    - dylan604 6y ago
      You don't tip? Tips are showing your respect for deliveries. Also, most gadgets I've seen have a screen that can be viewed with credits in them, as well as most software. Video games have credits too. Books have credits too, right there on the cover and is probably what grabs your attention more than the title.
- madjam002 6y ago
  Yep, this is what I hate. Finishing a TV show, taking it all in, only to find myself scrambling for the remote to press Watch Credits so it doesn’t move on to some random trailer. The Kodi Netflix add-on might not have the best interface, but at least it doesn’t do stuff like this!
avian 6y ago
What you still can’t turn off AFAIK is the video starting to play in the background if you go to the “more info” menu. At least on the Android TV app.
corin_ 6y ago
I have it turned off in my profile, which works nearly everywhere, but doesn't have any effect on the Apple TV netflix app.
5988 6y ago
oh cool

hellojason 6y ago

> auto playing videos on Netflix You can now disable this at the account level. They added the option a few months back.

wolco5 6y ago
They removed this feature and I like the rollover previews. Where can you change this?

fredzel 6y ago

Pretty annoying when they run you trailers of a sequel before you even finished the first one because 'you might be interested' - sometimes even the thumbnail is a spoiler.

ascagnel_ 6y ago

> Ads on Amazon Prime are infuriating. And I can't help think how annoying it must be for people with disabilities. I usually watch TV with subtitles on (it means I can have the volume a little lower), and I find that cases where pre-roll ads are inserted either don't adjust the subtitle sync or don't adjust it properly. Amazon's subtitles are generally 1-2s ahead of the video, which is just enough to let the air out of a big reveal or ruin a joke.

jonpurdy 6y ago

This is a great example of why I still prefer torrenting films and TV shows as opposed to using my wife’s Netflix sub: the pirated media is better! Netflix and Hulu and competing with easier to use and more flexible pirated media, whether they like it or not. The consistency and flexibility of the VLC interface (or whatever media player you choose) is vastly better than whatever features a Netflix PM is trying to push to juice their metrics. (I won’t even get into unskippable screens on Blu-Ray discs which are removed on the pirate version.)

matheusmoreira 6y ago
Yeah, piracy is almost always the better service. How the hell can a bunch of enthusiasts come up with a better service than multi-billion dollar companies? They seriously need to stop and rethink their industry. When I use my Netflix I get a horribly compressed "high definition" picture, annoying autoplaying ads for shows I don't care about and a constantly decreasing amount of content. Piracy offers the opposite of all that: high quality encodes, no bullshit ads anywhere and complete collections of everything.
- corin_ 6y ago
  They become multi billion companies by having different incentives (making profit) than the enthusiasts.
- tartoran 6y ago
  I think all creators should have a pirates donations box so pirated content doesn’t impact the creators that much.
  - sundvor 6y ago
    Does watching hq torrents of content I have legal access to count? :) My 960 GPU in the htpc doesn't quite have the bit depth that Netflix wants, therefore it disables 4k entirely. Bought the GPU at the time as it was the first with hardware HECV, has zero issues playing back a 4k encoding by someone else..

ballenf 6y ago

Ads on Prime on kids content is especially frustrating. My biggest goal with kids is to help them with their focus and limit exposure to "infinity pools" of content. It's not that I have a problem with the content of the ads, it's that they train kids' brains to want to switch quickly between content the moment a show has a lull. It creates that FOMO that they might not be watching the most exciting show right now because the ad always makes the other show look way better. Youtube is of course the epitome of this issue, although disabling the mini-player on kids content helps a little.

kalleboo 6y ago
I do have a problem with the content of the ads on kids videos - I've seen violence in some of them

DanBC 6y ago

My current favourite sketch about popup ads: https://twitter.com/thepincomedy/status/1349299943576662017?s=20 https://twitter.com/thepincomedy/status/1349299943576662017?...

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simplerman 6y ago

> Ads on Amazon Prime are infuriating. And I can't help think how annoying it must be for people with disabilities. Or people with small kids.

Psype 6y ago

Actually, ads on Prime videos are for their other shows, and skippable. I discovered nice shows that way. But I agree, we should have at least 2 easy options in settings: - Never show ads for other shows - Always skip opening themes