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Netflix Launches 'Basic With Ads' Plan, But It Doesn't Currently Work on Apple TV

This is a good thing, the more ads they show more customers they will lose and the sooner Netflix can go the way of Blockbuster. With services like Pluto, Tubi, and Freevie offering full movies and shows with ads the less we need these overpriced services.
 
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burgman said:
Giving people choices, how rude!
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The time difference between 'choice' and 'compulsory' in most areas of society seems to be getting much shorter these days though, if this works for them you can expect to see one ten-second ad being shown before every program on 'normal' Netflix within a year or so 'just to test what people think', then before you realise it has happened it will be $29.99 a month for a 4 stream ad-supported sub and you are not allowed to share the passwords either.
 
Jaminist said:
Like You Tube they will probably start with minimum ads and increase it massively. I've noticed that I am getting more double ads on YT that's aren't skippable putting me off watching quite a few vids. I wanted to watch a video the other day that was 45 seconds long. I had to endure 30 seconds of adverts beforehand.

Netflix will show 5 mins of ads every hour to start with. I guess you have to weigh up whether the $3 saved a month is worth the time wasted seeing rubbish ads.

I get we live in an advertising based online existence now but the constant bombardment is overtaking the content you come to see alot of the time. Facebook is the same also, you see two or 3 posts from friends then it's a sponsored post. This appears to have massively increased over the years to the point where it impacts the enjoyment of the platform.
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I've noticed the same with YT. I wont skip ads on certain creators that I really like and I know this is their main source of income. But you are correct with the doubling of non-skippable ads.

I've also noticed the amount of ads that are longer than the video I want to watch has increased. This is even more bizarre. I remember it happening once in a blue moon but now it feels like its every ten or so videos.

It's like, no, I'm not watching a 20 minute ad to watch a 10 minute video. o_O

I don't have facebook but Instagram ads doubled or tripled when the founders left and the Zuck being the full integration with Meta. Reels will have two or three back to back ads now. Its kind of crazy.
 
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Netflix thinks they are irreplaceable. I think some of the recent moves - especially upcoming the password sharing crackdown and the lack of 4K on anything other than the 4 user plan (which is useless to many people if you can’t share) - is going to prove that point.

If they want to charge by resolution (dumb) and users (reasonable), the plans should be 1 user ad-supported (720 or 1080), 2 user premium (4K), and 4 user 4K HDR. Tie each “user” to a set login, tie that login to a “home location” and allow short travel periods and unlimited mobile remote watching.

Netflix seems intent on making it too expensive and complicated at the moment.
 
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A Hobo said:
Finally full circle. We are back to watching ad blocks every 15 mins AND paying for it.

Can we start over?
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Only if the subscriber wants to. The ad-supported plans aren’t replacing ad-free plans. They're simply another option.

A pay/ad hybrid model has been the norm for ages for things like newspapers, magazines, and television and there typically weren't ad-free options with those. With streaming services Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu, etc. there are both ad-supported and ad-free options.
 
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themuseboy said:
I am old enough to remember when cable TV first came out and I asked the question "Why would anyone pay to watch TV" and the response from the cable guy was "Because there are no commercials" I said, "Wow that's a great idea I hate all the commercials, where do I sign!" Well, within about 5 years commercials started to show up on cable TV. The excuse was just the cable fee was not bringing in enough revenue. But of course even with commercials they kept raising the monthly cable fees too. And here we are today...
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When was this? There were commercials in 1974 when I first got it. Others have made this same statement and I researched and could never find a time when there were not commercials on Cable TV. We paid for it for a few more channels and better picture quality, not because of no commercials.
 
chublet said:
The time difference between 'choice' and 'compulsory' in most areas of society seems to be getting much shorter these days though, if this works for them you can expect to see one ten-second ad being shown before every program on 'normal' Netflix within a year or so 'just to test what people think', then before you realise it has happened it will be $29.99 a month for a 4 stream ad-supported sub and you are not allowed to share the passwords either.
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Uhh What? Other streaming services have had Ad tiers for a long time. Quite the comma greased slippery slope you went down.
 
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So weird to me how these streaming companies fail to have a consistent updated app across the various streaming devices.
 
Sciomar said:
Streaming services have no come full circle to what they were boasting about replacing, sad days. Looking forward to whatever gets created to begin the cycle anew.
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The main point of OTT streaming services is having easy access to content whenever you want, not no ads.

When Hulu launched in 2008, the service was supported by ads.



Even YouTube ran ads in its early days before Google bought them.

 
I recently canceled our Netflix subscription, which was $20/month. Last month I dropped ATT Now ($80/month) and HBO Max ($10/month).

This leaves us with:
  • Amazon Video (Free with Prime)
  • Hulu w/Ads (Free with Spotify Premium)
  • Paramount+ w/Ads ($5/month). I got it for Star Trek, but Paramount has a lot of other good content.
So, we reduced our bill by ~$110/month, and now spend $5/month on streaming, since we would have subscribed to Prime and Spotify anyways. Frankly, we still get tons of content, and I was getting overwhelmed before cutting back.

The biggest downside is that I don't get much sports or news. Although, I do get some live sports and news via Paramount+ (CBS) and Amazon.
 
This is just more frog boiling. Ads are going to become inescapable because these companies are addicted to ad revenue. And the only companies not making money from ads are apparently making money from casino games skinned to act like something else. Like that lovely ad quoted in the top post.

I don't know how so much advertising money exists and why all these companies are so addicted to it. Even Apple is becoming an ad junkie now. Anything to boost that quarterly revenue.
 
webkit said:
There are ad blockers that take care of those unwanted ads on YouTube.
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Which don’t work on an iPhone so no real point. Even if it did now I wouldn’t do it as haven’t missed the constant pull of YouTube AT ALL.
 
DaRev said:
This is a good thing, the more ads they show more customers they will lose and the sooner Netflix can go the way of Blockbuster. With services like Pluto, Tubi, and Freevie offering full movies and shows with ads the less we need these overpriced services.
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Your post makes no sense. People who intentionally pick the Basic with Ads plan know what they're getting in exchange for a lower price: Ads. If subscribers don't want to see ads, there's the Basic plan.

Free with ads streaming services like Pluto and Tubi don't offer the latest content, so you can't really compare them to discounted price with ads services from Netflix, Hulu, Disney, and HBO Max.

Everything I've come across on the free with ads services like Pluto, Tubi, Crackle, Freevie, Redbox, etc. is at least 2 years old. If you want to see the latest movie or episode/season of a show, you'll have to subscribe to a paid service like Paramount+ because Paramount isn't going to put them on the (free with ads) Pluto. But if you're okay with watching/catching up on old movies and shows, then Pluto, Tubi, Freevie, Roku Channel, etc are all good ways to do it.
 
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JBGoode said:
When was this? There were commercials in 1974 when I first got it. Others have made this same statement and I researched and could never find a time when there were not commercials on Cable TV. We paid for it for a few more channels and better picture quality, not because of no commercials.
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I am not aware of a time when cable TV was commercial free either. Other than maybe government funded channels like C-SPAN and premium channels like HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, Disney, etc. Also, getting that ad-free experience from premium channels was quite costly compared to streaming services today.

Premium channels back in the 1980s were typically $10 to $12 per month which, after adjusting for inflation, is the equivalent of about $30 to $35 per month today. Ad-free HBO Max today with more content, on demand, etc. is less than half that plus there's an even cheaper ad-supported option. Today's premium entertainment is a bargain compared to decades ago.
 
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