8 ms·

Best thing about streaming subscriptions vs cable IMHO is NO ADS - I find it baffling people spend a hundred bucks a month on cable and still accept like 30% of

Best thing about streaming subscriptions vs cable IMHO is NO ADS - I find it baffling people spend a hundred bucks a month on cable and still accept like 30% of the airtime is ads…. just no

phone8675309 4y ago
There are plenty of streaming services that have ads - Hulu and Disney+ have an ad-supported tier, for example, and it's foolish to think that Netflix won't introduce an ad-supported tier as soon as they think their customers won't revolt. It's the most obvious solution to login sharing - give a very cheap or free ad-supported tier and then monetize the hell out of them. Netflix already has ads - just for their own shows.
- zerocrates 4y ago
  Netflix has already widely announced their intention to add a with-ads tier.
- joegahona 4y ago
  > Netflix already has ads - just for their own shows. I think the industry term for this is "in-house ads," and they've existed for as long as I can remember on premium-cable channels like HBO, Showtime, etc. The experience would be better without them, for sure, but they're less ugsome than the typical programmatic ads you get on Youtube or Hulu.
  - ghaff 4y ago
    Or you call them trailers in the movie theater (which also have ads). I don't mind them and they're pretty easy to skip in my experience.
- pnutjam 4y ago
  Paramount+ has ads even if you pay for the ad free experience. Really irritating.
  - hahamrfunnyguy 4y ago
    I ran into this too, It was a bug in my view because according to the service description ads would "sometimes" show up during live programming. I guess it doesn't say that ads WON'T show up elsewhere, but my assumption was that they wouldn't. I had signed up in '20 or '21 and I am curious if this is still the same way.
    - pnutjam 4y ago
      I dropped it, but picked it back up for the Nick programming. Still ads, but only a few, mostly at the beginning. Really irritating, but I hear the ads version is practically unwatchable.
jaywalk 4y ago
Many streaming subscriptions have ads on their cheapest tiers, requiring you to pay more if you don't want to see ads. And if you're watching anything live, whether it's streaming or cable, you're getting ads regardless.
- hahamrfunnyguy 4y ago
  I paid extra for the ad-free Paramount Plus. I was getting un-skippable pre-roll ads before and during Star Trek Discovery episodes. I contacted support and they said that ads would sometimes show up during live TV. They didn't have an answer for why ads were showing during Discovery. They pre-rolls would sometimes take 5-10 minutes! I could go fix a snack, put in a load of laundry and when I'd come back the pre-rolls would still be playing. Anyway, other than the programming the service itself was awful and after going through the Star Trek back catalog I cancelled. I may sign up again but after the bad experience, I am not inclined to watch again. I really wouldn't want to watch with ads if they paid me to do it.
MisterBastahrd 4y ago
For now. Eventually the greed is going to get to the point where ads are mandatory regardless of what package you choose. It's just a slow burn similar to what happened in publishing. First there were ads. Then there were popup ads. It took an entire army of people to get rid of the popups. So they increased the ads, got more sophisticated on placement, and made them far more insidious in terms of privacy violation. Then they added paywalls, but removed the ads. Now they're adding ads to paywalled content because of "added value for our customers" when they aren't also doing sponsored newsletters.
- s1artibartfast 4y ago
  I don't think this is a realistic take. There are a large number of consumers willing to pay for no adds, and fewer barriers to market entry than cable. Even cable, with its relative monopoly had packages with no adds like HBO.
  - phone8675309 4y ago
    When cable first started many, many channels had no ads either, and they caved once they realized they could get away with it.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - scarface74 4y ago
      No many channels were not ad free when cable first started. Only channels that were premium, When cable first started, it was a method to rebroadcast local stations where you couldn’t get a signal over the air. The first basic cable only channels were also ad supported.
  - Nasrudith 4y ago
    I recall hearing about spammers and mailing lists that some advertisers are a special kind of stupid who think "willing to pay not to see ads" means "extra lucrative demographic". Hearsay but it seems consistent with bad advertising practices like "punch the monkey and autoplay banner ads".
wilde 4y ago
This used to be a selling feature of cable. In the not too distant future, all of streaming will have required ads too.
- SllX 4y ago
  Sure, maybe they all do add ads. I wouldn’t hesitate to cancel everything. I’m happy to pay money for service, but I’m also happy to cut ties with companies that actively disrespect my time.
- tastyfreeze 4y ago
  This creep has already happened. Hulu started free with ads and the paid tier was ad free and had more content. Now the base tier is paid AND has ads. Once the subscriber growth plateaus all the streaming services will look for was to keep revenue increasing. In swoop the advertisers with a big fat stack of cash and an evil smile.
- scarface74 4y ago
  There was never a time that basic cable was ad free.
grishka 4y ago
Best thing about piracy is that not only is there no ads, it's that you don't have to even think which streaming service has the particular show/movie you want. You also get to watch it on any device of your choice, in any player of your choice, completely offline. And you get to take screenshots. And it's free. I simply see no reason to ever pay for movies and tv shows — you pay money AND get a worse experience.
- SketchySeaBeast 4y ago
  It's one of those weird things where if everyone chose the superior experience it would cease to exist.
  - CommieBobDole 4y ago
    That hasn't always been the case, though - for many years, I put away my parrot and eyepatch and rented or bought content because it offered the best experience, even though it cost a little money. Only recently has piracy again become the least unpleasant way to consume content, and it's not because piracy has become any easier.
  - scarecrowbob 4y ago
    Only for certain modes of that experience: there is already far more content than I will ever be able to consume in 50 lifetimes. My distaste for a lot of contemporary cultural products aside (I'm okay if they never make another episode of Cheers or MASH, but I can see how that would happen if the creators weren't being paid for that), it feels likely to me that if commercial media ceased production I still wouldn't run out of stuff to watch even if I lived longer than I expect.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
  - parkingrift 4y ago
    I am perfectly fine with that outcome as it would mean a reset on how IP is delivered and owned. When there are convenient options which respect users, piracy goes down. It’s as simple as that.
moffkalast 4y ago
> Best thing about streaming subscriptions is that pirate sites have all their content. FTFY
sprkwd 4y ago
I just watched the new Game of Thrones show on NowTV. It had ads before and during the show.

Best thing about streaming subscriptions vs cable IMHO is NO ADS - I find it baffling people spend a hundred bucks a month on cable and still accept like 30% of the airtime is ads…. just no

phone8675309 4y ago

There are plenty of streaming services that have ads - Hulu and Disney+ have an ad-supported tier, for example, and it's foolish to think that Netflix won't introduce an ad-supported tier as soon as they think their customers won't revolt. It's the most obvious solution to login sharing - give a very cheap or free ad-supported tier and then monetize the hell out of them. Netflix already has ads - just for their own shows.

zerocrates 4y ago
Netflix has already widely announced their intention to add a with-ads tier.
joegahona 4y ago
> Netflix already has ads - just for their own shows. I think the industry term for this is "in-house ads," and they've existed for as long as I can remember on premium-cable channels like HBO, Showtime, etc. The experience would be better without them, for sure, but they're less ugsome than the typical programmatic ads you get on Youtube or Hulu.
- ghaff 4y ago
  Or you call them trailers in the movie theater (which also have ads). I don't mind them and they're pretty easy to skip in my experience.
pnutjam 4y ago
Paramount+ has ads even if you pay for the ad free experience. Really irritating.
- hahamrfunnyguy 4y ago
  I ran into this too, It was a bug in my view because according to the service description ads would "sometimes" show up during live programming. I guess it doesn't say that ads WON'T show up elsewhere, but my assumption was that they wouldn't. I had signed up in '20 or '21 and I am curious if this is still the same way.
  - pnutjam 4y ago
    I dropped it, but picked it back up for the Nick programming. Still ads, but only a few, mostly at the beginning. Really irritating, but I hear the ads version is practically unwatchable.

jaywalk 4y ago

Many streaming subscriptions have ads on their cheapest tiers, requiring you to pay more if you don't want to see ads. And if you're watching anything live, whether it's streaming or cable, you're getting ads regardless.

hahamrfunnyguy 4y ago
I paid extra for the ad-free Paramount Plus. I was getting un-skippable pre-roll ads before and during Star Trek Discovery episodes. I contacted support and they said that ads would sometimes show up during live TV. They didn't have an answer for why ads were showing during Discovery. They pre-rolls would sometimes take 5-10 minutes! I could go fix a snack, put in a load of laundry and when I'd come back the pre-rolls would still be playing. Anyway, other than the programming the service itself was awful and after going through the Star Trek back catalog I cancelled. I may sign up again but after the bad experience, I am not inclined to watch again. I really wouldn't want to watch with ads if they paid me to do it.

MisterBastahrd 4y ago

For now. Eventually the greed is going to get to the point where ads are mandatory regardless of what package you choose. It's just a slow burn similar to what happened in publishing. First there were ads. Then there were popup ads. It took an entire army of people to get rid of the popups. So they increased the ads, got more sophisticated on placement, and made them far more insidious in terms of privacy violation. Then they added paywalls, but removed the ads. Now they're adding ads to paywalled content because of "added value for our customers" when they aren't also doing sponsored newsletters.

s1artibartfast 4y ago
I don't think this is a realistic take. There are a large number of consumers willing to pay for no adds, and fewer barriers to market entry than cable. Even cable, with its relative monopoly had packages with no adds like HBO.
- phone8675309 4y ago
  When cable first started many, many channels had no ads either, and they caved once they realized they could get away with it.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - scarface74 4y ago
    No many channels were not ad free when cable first started. Only channels that were premium, When cable first started, it was a method to rebroadcast local stations where you couldn’t get a signal over the air. The first basic cable only channels were also ad supported.
- Nasrudith 4y ago
  I recall hearing about spammers and mailing lists that some advertisers are a special kind of stupid who think "willing to pay not to see ads" means "extra lucrative demographic". Hearsay but it seems consistent with bad advertising practices like "punch the monkey and autoplay banner ads".

wilde 4y ago

This used to be a selling feature of cable. In the not too distant future, all of streaming will have required ads too.

SllX 4y ago
Sure, maybe they all do add ads. I wouldn’t hesitate to cancel everything. I’m happy to pay money for service, but I’m also happy to cut ties with companies that actively disrespect my time.
tastyfreeze 4y ago
This creep has already happened. Hulu started free with ads and the paid tier was ad free and had more content. Now the base tier is paid AND has ads. Once the subscriber growth plateaus all the streaming services will look for was to keep revenue increasing. In swoop the advertisers with a big fat stack of cash and an evil smile.
scarface74 4y ago
There was never a time that basic cable was ad free.

grishka 4y ago

Best thing about piracy is that not only is there no ads, it's that you don't have to even think which streaming service has the particular show/movie you want. You also get to watch it on any device of your choice, in any player of your choice, completely offline. And you get to take screenshots. And it's free. I simply see no reason to ever pay for movies and tv shows — you pay money AND get a worse experience.

SketchySeaBeast 4y ago
It's one of those weird things where if everyone chose the superior experience it would cease to exist.
- CommieBobDole 4y ago
  That hasn't always been the case, though - for many years, I put away my parrot and eyepatch and rented or bought content because it offered the best experience, even though it cost a little money. Only recently has piracy again become the least unpleasant way to consume content, and it's not because piracy has become any easier.
- scarecrowbob 4y ago
  Only for certain modes of that experience: there is already far more content than I will ever be able to consume in 50 lifetimes. My distaste for a lot of contemporary cultural products aside (I'm okay if they never make another episode of Cheers or MASH, but I can see how that would happen if the creators weren't being paid for that), it feels likely to me that if commercial media ceased production I still wouldn't run out of stuff to watch even if I lived longer than I expect.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- parkingrift 4y ago
  I am perfectly fine with that outcome as it would mean a reset on how IP is delivered and owned. When there are convenient options which respect users, piracy goes down. It’s as simple as that.

moffkalast 4y ago

> Best thing about streaming subscriptions is that pirate sites have all their content. FTFY

sprkwd 4y ago

I just watched the new Game of Thrones show on NowTV. It had ads before and during the show.