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You know how there are so many nice posts that make you go "I would want to buy this person coffee/beer if I could.", I feel the exact opposite towards this per

by _8j50 5y ago

You know how there are so many nice posts that make you go "I would want to buy this person coffee/beer if I could.", I feel the exact opposite towards this person. People like this are why shitty services like Hulu exist and why cable TV charges you $200 and is 70% (at least) ads! I will pay netflix more than any cable company because the quality of their content. Exploitative capitalism at its finest. Shortsighted greed with no room for imagination. I can spend 15 min and come up with at least 5 ways to charge customers more without needing to sell them ads. I don't care if it costs $0.99 I will cancel if they have even one ad and I will pay up to $2-300 for no ads (including for other users because it creates a perverse incentive to collect user data and sell anyways). You want cheaper with ads? There is a myriad of services that provide that (although the cheap part is rare!)

deleted 5y ago
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rosndo 5y ago
> including for other users because it creates a perverse incentive to collect user data and sell anyways Huh? I don’t see Facebook or Google going around selling user data, it’s secret sauce they want to protect. Why would netflix sell user data if they start advertising? Wouldn’t that be more likely in a world where user data isn’t otherwise a major revenue source for them? (Although collecting user data is clearly already super important for netflix as they use it to design their content)
- _8j50 5y ago
  Because to netflix it is supplemental income, to fb and google it is their main income. Google and fb run their own ad network as well. Why would netflix not sell your interests in movies and habits to allow better targeting in their platform? If you get a no ad experience, why waste the opportunity? Sell it to others so they can target you elsewhere. That is, if they go down the ad road.
  - rosndo 5y ago
    > Why would netflix not sell your interests in movies and habits to allow better targeting in their platform? Why would they need to sell that data to allow better targeting? Doesn’t make sense. > That is, if they go down the ad road. Why would adding ads to Netflix force them to do these things that they would already be perfectly capable of doing? Netflix collects tons of data, could sell it if they wanted.
    - _8j50 5y ago
      It wouldn't force them but if they are collecting data from users, why let it go to waste? They are capable of doing this now but they chose to accept subscription fees instead. If ads are acceptable to some users then collection of data valuable for advertising from all users is only logical since it is transparent for nearly all users and if you are not going to show some users ads then why waste the data collection when you can partner with ad platforms. For example, your bank gives you a checking account, some require you to maintain some balance or a fee applies. They charge merchants when you use debit cards too, but they collect your payment info, at some point they all decided to sell your payment info to allow companies like google to connect targeting with purchases. Why waste precious data when you can monetize it ? (At least that is their reasoning I disagree with)
      - rosndo 5y ago
        There really isn’t a coherent logic here as far as I can tell. Netflix already collects a huge amount of user data. Do they sell it now? I don’t know, maybe. If Netflix launched an ad-supported subscription plan, why would that make them more likely to sell the data which they already collect? I can’t see any obvious connection between selling ad spots and selling user data. > Why waste precious data when you can monetize it ? They have this data. They will continue to have this data if they don’t show ads, and they will also continue to have this data if they do show ads. Why is the data not being wasted now? Why would the situation be different if Netflix offered ad-supported plans?

by _8j50 5y ago

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

rosndo 5y ago

> including for other users because it creates a perverse incentive to collect user data and sell anyways Huh? I don’t see Facebook or Google going around selling user data, it’s secret sauce they want to protect. Why would netflix sell user data if they start advertising? Wouldn’t that be more likely in a world where user data isn’t otherwise a major revenue source for them? (Although collecting user data is clearly already super important for netflix as they use it to design their content)

_8j50 5y ago
Because to netflix it is supplemental income, to fb and google it is their main income. Google and fb run their own ad network as well. Why would netflix not sell your interests in movies and habits to allow better targeting in their platform? If you get a no ad experience, why waste the opportunity? Sell it to others so they can target you elsewhere. That is, if they go down the ad road.
- rosndo 5y ago
  > Why would netflix not sell your interests in movies and habits to allow better targeting in their platform? Why would they need to sell that data to allow better targeting? Doesn’t make sense. > That is, if they go down the ad road. Why would adding ads to Netflix force them to do these things that they would already be perfectly capable of doing? Netflix collects tons of data, could sell it if they wanted.
  - _8j50 5y ago
    It wouldn't force them but if they are collecting data from users, why let it go to waste? They are capable of doing this now but they chose to accept subscription fees instead. If ads are acceptable to some users then collection of data valuable for advertising from all users is only logical since it is transparent for nearly all users and if you are not going to show some users ads then why waste the data collection when you can partner with ad platforms. For example, your bank gives you a checking account, some require you to maintain some balance or a fee applies. They charge merchants when you use debit cards too, but they collect your payment info, at some point they all decided to sell your payment info to allow companies like google to connect targeting with purchases. Why waste precious data when you can monetize it ? (At least that is their reasoning I disagree with)
    - rosndo 5y ago
      There really isn’t a coherent logic here as far as I can tell. Netflix already collects a huge amount of user data. Do they sell it now? I don’t know, maybe. If Netflix launched an ad-supported subscription plan, why would that make them more likely to sell the data which they already collect? I can’t see any obvious connection between selling ad spots and selling user data. > Why waste precious data when you can monetize it ? They have this data. They will continue to have this data if they don’t show ads, and they will also continue to have this data if they do show ads. Why is the data not being wasted now? Why would the situation be different if Netflix offered ad-supported plans?