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One would think that this would represent an opportunity in the market to, you know, sell TVs that only do their basic function, and not try to tack on ads and

One would think that this would represent an opportunity in the market to, you know, sell TVs that only do their basic function, and not try to tack on ads and such, right? Or, is it that not enough people care about this stuff...so the masses simply put up with it, and move about their lives...and Tv makers (and other device manufacturerers) go with the flow of taking as much advantage as possible?

wannacboatmovie 2y ago
Our idiocracy would decry that as some sort of antiquated Luddite device and it wouldn't sell in enough volume to make a profit.
- Spivak 2y ago
  That's not why, it's because the most important factor for people is price and tv with ads can sell for cheaper than the one without. I would never dream of touching a streaming service with ads but I'm clearly in the minority since I'm the only one paying the premium for ad free.
  - wannacboatmovie 2y ago
    Are you saying TV prices dropped sharply once they started including the adware? It sounds more like the adware is selling at the same price point normal TVs were in years past, and the ad-free were relegated to a higher priced tier that didn't previously exist.
    - Spivak 2y ago
      If you're talking nominal prices then I think we're agreeing. The ads made it possible to sustain the current price in the face of inflation.
acdha 2y ago
The problem is that ads and tracking data represent recurring revenue for the manufacturers, and they know full well that many people are going to Walmart or Best Buy and picking the cheapest one. That changes the decision considerably: not many people feel strongly enough about this to pay more, and even people who do care about privacy or find ads annoying usually aren’t willing to pay much more for it. An Apple TV is the clear market leader on streaming devices but even there you see people talking like it’s exorbitant to pay an extra $50 for something which will last twice as long as a FireTV or Google TV, and for TVs it’s even less favorable because the people who care enough to buy our hypothetical safe TV are going to need one of those anyway so they’re probably going to pick the cheaper (advertiser subsidized) one and never connect it to the internet.

wannacboatmovie 2y ago

Our idiocracy would decry that as some sort of antiquated Luddite device and it wouldn't sell in enough volume to make a profit.

Spivak 2y ago
That's not why, it's because the most important factor for people is price and tv with ads can sell for cheaper than the one without. I would never dream of touching a streaming service with ads but I'm clearly in the minority since I'm the only one paying the premium for ad free.
- wannacboatmovie 2y ago
  Are you saying TV prices dropped sharply once they started including the adware? It sounds more like the adware is selling at the same price point normal TVs were in years past, and the ad-free were relegated to a higher priced tier that didn't previously exist.
  - Spivak 2y ago
    If you're talking nominal prices then I think we're agreeing. The ads made it possible to sustain the current price in the face of inflation.

acdha 2y ago

The problem is that ads and tracking data represent recurring revenue for the manufacturers, and they know full well that many people are going to Walmart or Best Buy and picking the cheapest one. That changes the decision considerably: not many people feel strongly enough about this to pay more, and even people who do care about privacy or find ads annoying usually aren’t willing to pay much more for it. An Apple TV is the clear market leader on streaming devices but even there you see people talking like it’s exorbitant to pay an extra $50 for something which will last twice as long as a FireTV or Google TV, and for TVs it’s even less favorable because the people who care enough to buy our hypothetical safe TV are going to need one of those anyway so they’re probably going to pick the cheaper (advertiser subsidized) one and never connect it to the internet.