The Future of Television Is … More Television

SilverSurfer wrote 5 years ago: 1

The Future of Television Is … More Television

https://www.wired.com/story/netflix-new-tv-television-future-jeffrey-katzenberg/

Call it Jeffrey Katzenberg’s unicorn newborn. An operating company has come into being, ex nihilo, with the blandest of names—NewTV—and a valuation north of $1 billion. That’s something that has never happened before. Another thing that hasn’t happened before: the very first funding round for the company managed to reach the $1 billion mark. NewTV, then, is no scrappy startup. Rather, it is, from day one, an enormous privately owned corporation, run by a deeply experienced CEO, Meg Whitman, who formerly ran eBay and Hewlett-Packard.
And it’s probably going to fail.

Interesting piece for those who are interested in TV beyond the shows. It is an opinion piece, and similar thoughts persisted in the 1940's during radios golden age. IMO, it's a matter of when, not if, Netflix, Amazon et al start with just a short, 15~30 second ad to start/end programs to "keep subscription costs down".

SilverSurfer wrote 5 years ago: 1

SilverSurfer wrote:
IMO, it's a matter of when, not if, Netflix, Amazon et al start with just a short, 15~30 second ad to start/end programs to "keep subscription costs down".

And right on cue ...

Netflix is testing adverts between episodes and viewers aren’t happy

https://www.whatsontv.co.uk/news/netflix-testing-adverts-episodes-viewers-arent-happy-547436/

... not the type of ads I was thinking of but, ads none-the-less.

david wrote 5 years ago: 1

Yeah, so the day I see an ad on my Netflix is the day I cancel my subscription. I already think the price increases more often than is reasonable, but ads would be a final straw.

tnt wrote 5 years ago: 1

With the growing number of the "originals" they're buying it was inevitable. Considering that they already raised the fee more than once, and capped the bitrate on all non-Netflix series (to save the bandwidth apparently), the next step is predictable. In perfect world there should be two types of subscription, a cheaper ad-supported, and more expensive ad-free. But there's no such thing as perfect.

gazza911 wrote 5 years ago: 1

david wrote:
Yeah, so the day I see an ad on my Netflix is the day I cancel my subscription. I already think the price increases more often than is reasonable, but ads would be a final straw.

At least for now you can prevent it; like the article says, turn off experiments here: http://netflix.com/DoNotTest

Jan wrote 5 years ago: 1

gazza911 wrote:
At least for now you can prevent it; like the article says, turn off experiments here: http://netflix.com/DoNotTest

Thanks for that.

TV providers are also experimenting with personalized ads. Seems TV and Netflix will collide at some point.

david wrote 5 years ago: 1

tnt wrote:
With the growing number of the "originals" they're buying it was inevitable. Considering that they already raised the fee more than once, and capped the bitrate on all non-Netflix series (to save the bandwidth apparently), the next step is predictable. In perfect world there should be two types of subscription, a cheaper ad-supported, and more expensive ad-free. But there's no such thing as perfect.

Netflix already has a lot more interesting series than I have time for, and at the rate they're adding new shows I'm not ever going to be able to catch up.. :/

tnt wrote 5 years ago: 1

david wrote:
Netflix already has a lot more interesting series than I have time for, and at the rate they're adding new shows I'm not ever going to be able to catch up.. :/

Sounds like a good retirement plan XD

SilverSurfer wrote 5 years ago: 1

Amazon is ending ad-free viewing for Twitch Prime ... unless you want to pay another $8.99/mth ... the introduction of ads to paid streaming grows, again ... the foot is in the door ... the slope just got slipperier ... don't eat the yellow snow ... ok that last one doesn't apply but I was drawing a blank for another saying.

Twitch Plans to Cut Ad-Free Viewing for Prime Members

https://screenrant.com/twitch-prime-ad-free-viewing-cut/

Twitch users who subscribe to Amazon Prime will soon lose their primary additional benefit, that being the ability to watch videos ad-free. Gaming-related streaming is big business at this point, and one of the biggest players in the market is undoubtedly Twitch. Beginning life in 2011 as a spinoff of general streaming website Justin.tv, Twitch eventually landed under the monolithic Amazon umbrella, after its parent company was purchased by the online retail giant in 2014.

SilverSurfer wrote 5 years ago: 1

Netflix is testing unskippable 'promos' between show episodes

https://www.techspot.com/news/76031-netflix-reportedly-testing-unskippable-promos-between-show-episodes.html

Facepalm: Netflix has always prided itself on the lack of advertisements on its platform. By charging users a monthly subscription fee, the service can continue to grow and produce original content without annoying its users - however, some Netflix customers now say the platform is beginning to test unskippable "promos" between episodes of their favorite shows.

Netflix counter claims you can skip the ads so, if true, it must not be completely obvious how to do it.

As pointed out in the comments, Hulu has a two tier structure, one with ads and one ad-free ... my money is still on Netflix going down this road at some point. There are literally tens of billions of dollars a year up for grabs in ad money ... Netflix is still bleeding cash ... people may not like ads but they may like even less the demise of Netflix if it doesn't start to make a profit at some point. A company with a gazillion eyeballs per day and advertisers with billions to spend ... you tell me how long before they hook up.