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submitted 1 week ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

Netflix, once a pioneer of ad-free viewing that offered a break from traditional TV norms, is now contemplating launching free ad-supported versions of its service in markets like Europe and Asia, Bloomberg reported.

The plans to offer a free ad-supported tier, albeit in select markets, suggests that pivot towards monetizing user data, in other words — making users and not the extensive library of award-winning shows a product, might be well in the pipeline.

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[-] [email protected] 118 points 6 days ago

Tech bros reinvent broadcast TV.

[-] [email protected] 17 points 6 days ago

Told people this years ago when pewdie pie became a millionaire selling ads. Like that was the time to wake up and hate every single one of these content creators for selling out and making the internet the hellscape this is. But no we Revere and emulate these people.

[-] [email protected] 19 points 6 days ago

This is a bit unnecessarily tough on independent content creators... what exactly do you expect them to do? Make no money from their content? How would they be able to make a living?

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[-] [email protected] 9 points 6 days ago

Who reveres and emulates PewDiePie lol

[-] [email protected] 5 points 6 days ago

Too fucking many. But replace him with any of them. Speed, H2, Moist, donkey something. We use to have to walk uphill both ways in the snow to see content.

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[-] [email protected] 4 points 6 days ago

With my NAS, plex and Usenet I reinvented streaming. It’s awesome.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

What I fears is that its a matter of time before entertainment industry figures out a way to stop those services. I've even begun to see discussions that open source may be struggling to remain relevant. Whose taking over for the power houses from early days. So much talent out there. But I really worry the community will shrink over time because we all raiser a generation on the concept of monetization rather than open collaboration. I look out on the internet and the loudest voices are artists and content creators. Both groups who push the fuck you pay me mentality that I believe was not what we all had originally on the internet and it makes me so worried to think how that will only grow if there is no push back.

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[-] [email protected] 104 points 1 week ago

There's no better ad for piracy than the greed of corporations. Don't let ads shit in your head. They disrespect you, you disrespect them.

[-] [email protected] 25 points 6 days ago

I have hardware dedicated to blocking ads on my home network.

[-] [email protected] 21 points 6 days ago

That will only go so far unfortunately. And network level ad blocking won’t protect you from their ads if they’re served from the same servers the content is.

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[-] [email protected] 11 points 6 days ago

What hardware do you use? I have a pihole. Unfortunately it doesn't block ads on Youtube except in the web browser.

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[-] [email protected] 15 points 6 days ago

"People are taking the piss out of you every day. They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear. They leer at you from tall buildings and make you feel small. They make flippant comments from buses that imply you’re not sexy enough and that all the fun is happening somewhere else. They are on TV making your girlfriend feel inadequate. They have access to the most sophisticated technology the world has ever seen and they bully you with it. They are The Advertisers and they are laughing at you. You, however, are forbidden to touch them. Trademarks, intellectual property rights and copyright law mean advertisers can say what they like wherever they like with total impunity. Fuck that. Any advert in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It’s yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head. You owe the companies nothing. Less than nothing, you especially don't owe them any courtesy. They owe you. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don't even start asking for theirs."

Banksy

[-] [email protected] 51 points 6 days ago

"Free ad-supported" makes you no different than a hundred other garbage-tier streaming services.

[-] [email protected] 27 points 6 days ago

And in 2 years they'll move to 3 tiers, free with ads, paid with slightly less ads and even more expensive than before but no ads...

[-] [email protected] 17 points 6 days ago

And eventually they’ll just pull the no ads version altogether.

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[-] [email protected] 63 points 6 days ago

"The enshittifucation will continue until profits improve." --CEOs of Publicly Traded Companies

[-] [email protected] 55 points 6 days ago

It's almost like all these CEOs and MBAs are just shooting in the dark because of the $$$ in their eyes, but the fact remains that the market is no longer responding favorably to their absolute need for year-over-year growth.

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[-] [email protected] 48 points 6 days ago

If they aren't going to charge for access otherwise then I don't think being ad supported is such a bad thing. Much more honest than subscription pricing and ads in my opinion.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

yeah, imo it's either ads or paid. not both. both is scummy

[-] [email protected] 35 points 6 days ago

The advertising ouroboros continues to devour itself

[-] [email protected] 35 points 6 days ago

They will still be selling user data whether you opt for the ad supported tier or not, so get used to that.

[-] [email protected] 17 points 6 days ago

If they haven't been doing so for at least a decade, I'm sure their shareholders will want to know why not.

[-] [email protected] 31 points 6 days ago

My Plex share doesn't care lol

The way the industry is pulling the screws tighter and tighter is just ugly to watch, and it's hard not to be caught out.

[-] [email protected] 7 points 6 days ago

Isn't Plex also slowly going down the shitter? Like, with their social features and stuff?

[-] [email protected] 4 points 6 days ago

They do keep adding garbage that nobody wants, but the core product still works great. I plan on getting a jellyfin docker running in parallel though so I’m prepared in the event they piss me off too much.

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[-] [email protected] 15 points 6 days ago

Great for piracy!

[-] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago

They want to squeeze out that extra bit of profit and get the users that never subscribed on there so they can boast about improved numbers.

[-] [email protected] 16 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Doesn't this already exist or did I imagine it?

I thought they introduced it years ago

Edit: oh I read again, this time it's free

[-] [email protected] 10 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Then:
Pay + ad

Now:
Free to watch + ads

[-] [email protected] 9 points 6 days ago

See, now I'm fine with that. I pay for Netflix and I want what I pay for to stay ad-free. Having an ad-supported tier with no fee in addition to that means that there are options for other people without enshittifying my experience.

That's a world of difference to what Amazon have done where they've shoved ads into the service that I thought I was paying for, and then offered to charge me even more to get my original ad-free service back.

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[-] [email protected] 11 points 6 days ago

still gonna stick to torrents for my media netflix cause i wanna actually have control of them

[-] [email protected] 9 points 6 days ago

Obviously the majority of content is not going to be available. It will essentially b a Tubi clone or what Netflix streaming was when they first launched it.

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this post was submitted on 27 Jun 2024
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