Comment by smallmancontrov
15 hours ago
No, if a company gets enough leverage the top plan will demand both payment and ads. We've seen it before and we'll see it again.
15 hours ago
No, if a company gets enough leverage the top plan will demand both payment and ads. We've seen it before and we'll see it again.
Examples would be the best way to prove me wrong.
Most (all?) streaming services offer an ad-free plan, and those are the most popular hybrid payment services by far.
I don’t know what you consider to be an advertisement but just off the top of my head:
Many (most?) streaming services advertise their own shows and other content ahead of other content you elect to watch even on ad free subs.
Hulu’s ad free subs have some shows that show unambiguous ads.
Prime and others muddy their interfaces with others’ “channels” and content that you can subscribe to through their service. They also show other content you can purchase or rent through them that aren’t part of your package. These things are included in search, viewing UI lists, and banner ads.
Cable TV in the 80s started out ad free. Then they realized they could only grow revenues at the rate they wanted with ads.
> Cable TV in the 80s started out ad free.
This is untrue in the US. There were ad supported cable TV channels before 1980. Most of the first cable TV channels were ad supported from the start or adopted advertising within the first few years of going on-air. For example, TBS, ESPN, and USA had ads from day one, with those launching in 1976, 1980, and 1977 respectively. Nickelodeon was ad-free at its launch in 1979 but adopted advertising in 1984.
And this also ignores that for decades before "cable" was just all the broadcast stations piped over coax as a paid service. That had ads, since those broadcast stations had ads. And even when cable channels did start appearing, most of the channels on the dial we're still these broadcast channels. So most content you were paying for had ads since day one.
There were ads from the start.
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> Ideally without using the one counter example of cable TV in the 90's. Monopolies bring bad behaviors.
Hulu: Disney+, Hulu Bundle Premium: For $19.99/month, eligible subscribers get Disney+ (No Ads)* and Hulu (No Ads)*.
*Ads will be served in select live and linear content
I won't be engaging in any mental gymnastics where there is some redefinition of "no ads" to mean "some ads".
Easy: YouTube. You cannot purchase a completely ad free experience on YouTube.
Creators including ads in their videos are not part of youtube. Youtube does not get a cut from those ads or play any role in making them. I know it's confusing, but those ads are part of the creator's videos that the creators put there themselves with deals they brokered outside of youtube.
Youtube likely tolerates it because even with a 60% revenue share going go creators, often half of viewers pay nothing (no ad views or subscription), so sponsored segments can fill the gap for the creators.
Note that Youtube premium does include the ability to skip sponsored segments though.
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