Netflix Confirms Plans For Ad-Supported Service, Begins Second Round of Layoffs (variety.com) 78
According to the Wall Street Journal, Comcast's NBCUniversal subsidiary and Google are the "top contenders" for Netflix's upcoming ad-supported streaming tier. "After many years of resisting ads, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings announced the plan for an ad-supported tier in April," reports Ars Technica. "Netflix's stock price dropped 35 percent the day of that announcement, and Netflix revenue growth has been slowing amid a loss in subscribers." From the report: A deal with NBCUniversal would likely mean that "Comcast's video ad unit, FreeWheel, would supply technology to help serve up ads, while NBCUniversal's ad-sales team would help sell ads in the US and Europe," the report said. The Alphabet-owned Google, of course, has plenty of experience serving ads, including on its own YouTube and YouTube TV video platforms. Netflix already uses Google's ad-buying tools.
A deal with either NBCUniversal or Google would likely be exclusive, the WSJ report said. Comcast/NBCUniversal and Google aren't the only contenders, as "Roku has also had early talks with Netflix about ad partnerships," the report said. The Information reported last week that Netflix executives recently "met with representatives of both Roku and Comcast to discuss arrangements under which those companies would handle either the ad sales or the technical infrastructure for Netflix's forthcoming ad-supported tier of service."
Netflix "is looking to start doing some pre-roll ads, which run before a show starts, in the fourth quarter," The Information report said. Netflix is also negotiating with entertainment companies to put ads into shows that Netflix doesn't create itself. Licensing TV shows and movies for both ad-free and ad-supported streaming will cost Netflix about 20 percent more than for ad-free streaming alone, The Information report said. Variety has confirmed the streamer is "letting go of roughly 300 staffers [...] across multiple business functions in the company, with the bulk of the jobs lost in the U.S." Netflix also laid off 150 employees, and dozens of contractors and part-time workers in May.
"Today we sadly let go of around 300 employees," a Netflix spokesperson told Variety. "While we continue to invest significantly in the business, we made these adjustments so that our costs are growing in line with our slower revenue growth. We are so grateful for everything they have done for Netflix and are working hard to support them through this difficult transition."
A deal with either NBCUniversal or Google would likely be exclusive, the WSJ report said. Comcast/NBCUniversal and Google aren't the only contenders, as "Roku has also had early talks with Netflix about ad partnerships," the report said. The Information reported last week that Netflix executives recently "met with representatives of both Roku and Comcast to discuss arrangements under which those companies would handle either the ad sales or the technical infrastructure for Netflix's forthcoming ad-supported tier of service."
Netflix "is looking to start doing some pre-roll ads, which run before a show starts, in the fourth quarter," The Information report said. Netflix is also negotiating with entertainment companies to put ads into shows that Netflix doesn't create itself. Licensing TV shows and movies for both ad-free and ad-supported streaming will cost Netflix about 20 percent more than for ad-free streaming alone, The Information report said. Variety has confirmed the streamer is "letting go of roughly 300 staffers [...] across multiple business functions in the company, with the bulk of the jobs lost in the U.S." Netflix also laid off 150 employees, and dozens of contractors and part-time workers in May.
"Today we sadly let go of around 300 employees," a Netflix spokesperson told Variety. "While we continue to invest significantly in the business, we made these adjustments so that our costs are growing in line with our slower revenue growth. We are so grateful for everything they have done for Netflix and are working hard to support them through this difficult transition."
Netflix Stopped Having Good Movie Selection (Score:3, Insightful)
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Very true. And their own movies do not fill that void.
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Get ready to lose more subscribers (Score:5, Insightful)
If any of these ads are obligatory to all tiers or require a count to 5 then button press to skip, I will cancel Netflix service in a microsecond and shittalk them every chance I get. Zero tolerance, scorched earth, no ads.
Re:Get ready to lose more subscribers (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm with you. The moment Netflix shows me an ad is the moment I quit them forever.
It's a different price tier, duh (Score:2)
The ad-supported allows Netflix to have lower price tiers. At this point the ads won't be shown for normal subscribers.
Re:It's a different price tier, duh (Score:4, Informative)
Yeah.. "Lower price tier" being the same price tier as their highest 2 years ago. And it'll be the same as their current non-ad supported one in another 2 years, if the last few years prove anything.
Re:It's a different price tier, duh (Score:5, Insightful)
Sure. At first.
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So long as their future content licensing agreements don't require them to carry ads (the Hulu problem), then there's no good business reason not to offer an ad-free tier.
A full-rate subscription is still a better deal for Netflix than an ad-s
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The customer data, generated and tracked with the ads, is a potent business reason to mandate them.
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The customer data, generated and tracked with the ads, is a potent business reason to mandate them.
That makes absolutely no sense at all. The user is logged in to a profile, the user selects what they want to watch, Netflix knows every damned button you click already, what additional "customer data" is "generated and tracked" by ads (other than "customer abandoned stream when they couldn't skip the three minute ad we inserted"?)
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The user spends time watching the ad, or hitting "skip this ad" as soon as possible. It's also correlatable with the rest of what the client purchases via Netflix, and for browser access to Netflix, it's possible to use various tracking tags and back-end shared data to expand the scale and variety of the data. It's even commonplace for large scale advertisers to cross-link their services and their data.
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Tubi with Brave browser = no ads. It's non-stop shows. Pretty great.
Re: It's a different price tier, duh (Score:1)
There are plenty of movie services that are free with ads. They offer the same and nowadays even better options than Netflix.
Re:It's a different price tier, duh (Score:5, Insightful)
The ad-supported allows Netflix to have lower price tiers.
Yeah, just like not having to print e-books on physical paper lowered the prices of books.
Mmm... I love paying more for things that I don't own and have an artificially limited lifespan.
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E-books are generally cheaper, but not by much. That's because the overhead to print/ship/warehouse books is very low - it's under 10% of the cover price on the printed book. We've been doing books for centuries, and have optimized them so much that it costs very little to deal with the book itself. Same goes for all the ot
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Not exactly. The ad-supported allows Netflix to charge a higher price for no ads, and the current price will include ads.
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These ads will be only for the lowest, cheap ass poor tier for $8.99 SD only.
All HD/4K + subs will not have ads.
Re: Get ready to lose more subscribers (Score:2)
Iâ(TM)m a Netflix subscriber because T-Mobile includes it with their mobile service.
Iâ(TM)m considering a switch to Mint mobile⦠loses the subscription but saves money. Hmmm
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No they wont. The subscribers cancelling will just switch to the ad tier ;)
And that's good because you will still be able to watch the occasion good content they have without paying.
Plus i will stop Disney from raising prices, which they REALLY want to do.
Re: Get ready to lose more subscribers (Score:1)
Re: Nobody wants to run ads to .. poor people (Score:2)
Very true. That is why there is no advertising on public transport or broadcast television.
Heck, to see advertising at all, you need to see the inside of a private golf club or swanky hotel. Every available surface is plastered with the most garish, obtrusive advertising imaginable.
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Same. Actually, basically ANY new screwup on Netflix's part will do it for me. Between the years of increasing prices while dropping content and their newfound endorsement of and commitment to Chappell's anti-LGBT hate train; I'm already a hair's breadth away from dropping them anyway. Ads, another price hike, drop more shows I like, block my VPN when I start traveling again... take your pick.
The article (Score:2)
hints that the stock dropped because the ad streaming service was announced. Netflix stock dropped because investors finally figured out that netflix growth was finite and they were going to lose subscribers.
Don't get me wrong, I hate ads, and you should too, you should tell your friends and family to not put up with ads and cancel services from this.
Re: Cuties (Score:1)
That film was my final straw, leading me to unsubscribe. Their promotional materials were incredibly creepy, emphasising the pre-teen girls in inappropriate poses.
I suspect we'll see less if that now. Nonce content and other wokeness are a luxury of good times. When money starts to run out, you either focus on products for normal people or you fold. They've a mountain to climb if they are to compete with new streaming platforms run by companies with massive catalogues of content. While new content
Maybe if they improved content? (Score:5, Insightful)
Netflix's content is crap in many markets. Then they blocked paying customers from using a vpn to watch what they wanted. Then people stopped paying. What a surprise!
Netflix, if you want to survive go back to your roots. Give people access to more movies, both new and old, than anyone else.
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IMDB should solve that if you go read it.
Yeah Netflix needs a budget filter, only $25m + movies thanks option.
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How's that different from say Amazon Plus or Hulu? Or better still cable TV? It's been well over a decade since I had cable but the last time I was in a hotel I was pretty unimpressed with their 300 channels of utter crap.
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If it has the red N on it, just assume it sucks.
Re:Maybe if they improved content? (Score:5, Informative)
Not that easy though. The reason why a lot of people have had Netflix for the last 10 years or so, was that they *had* a lot of movies.
The problem they have now, is that they don't have the licensing for those movies any longer (like, for example, all the Disney crap including Pixar), which they originally got for a rather low price.
Now that most content creators are building their own streaming platform, they're not going to license the movie rights to Netflix for a couple of cents on the dollar anymore.
So.. Netflix loses a LOT of their library straight off just because of that, over roughly the last 4 or so years.
They're a sinking ship now pretty much.
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I'm just shocked it took the major studios so incredibly long to pull their heads out of their asses and build their own streaming platforms. I was expecting them to start doing this more than a decade ago. The platforms they would have built would have been total dogshit, so I'm glad they didn't. Disney+ is bad enough as-is.
Re: Maybe if they improved content? (Score:1)
People left for other streaming services which allowed content creators to set up their own channels. Netflix was big enough to tell Disney what to do at some point. Once they started promoting things people in general werenâ(TM)t interested in and started going along with the MeToo and BLM and other extremist bullshit, people started cancelling allowing Disney and co an opportunity to start their own service. Disney allowed their content on Netflix until Netflix started getting blowback from the regul
Re:Maybe if they improved content? (Score:5, Informative)
Geographical blocking could very well be content licensing. Many content owners auction off rights in specific regions to different providers. You can't blame Netflix for doing what they can to meet the terms of their license for content or else risk being sued/losing access to future licenses.
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Netflix's streaming service was built on a back-doored super-cheap sublicense from a traditional premium TV network (Starz I think). The network had somehow picked up Internet distribution rights but no use for them, so they sublicensed them to Netflix for a song. Several of the other rights deals were also done before anybody else had any idea of streaming movies so didn't value the rights highly.
Netflix knew all along that this was a limited-time deal; that's why they pushed creating their own content. Th
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It doesn't help if Netflix cancels everything so it can't grow and end naturally. It's hard to get someone to watch a good show that just ends without any conclusion. Sure, you have that problem with television generally but at least with cable, you could watch tons of networks while Netflix just increasingly has their content.
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> Netflix, if you want to survive go back to your roots. Give people access to more movies, both new and old, than anyone else.
--They still have that - it's called the DVD Plan.
Streaming was never the best option.
This could create problems for ad-free tiers too (Score:5, Interesting)
The problem with having an advertising supported tier is if they start to produce/edit content to have commercial break points. Things like fading out, ending conversations, mini cliffhangers, etc. There's a noticeable difference in showed created for broadcast tv where ads are expected and shows that have been edited for ad-free platforms (streaming/premium channels). It creates a lack of continuity and loss of immersion.
Re:This could create problems for ad-free tiers to (Score:5, Insightful)
They also now have to pander to advertisers and may avoid content that advertisers (or potential advertisers) don't like.
There's an upside to commercials too (Score:2)
With commercials so long as they have commercials sold it's worth keeping even slightly underperforming shows around. This means that if a show isn't a runaway hit so long as they can still feel commercial slots they can keep it around long enough to change up some of the
Folks Predicted This (Score:5, Insightful)
Netflix, Hulu, Disney, Amazon, Paramount, HBO Max, Peacock, Crunchyroll, etc. Once there are too many streamers, you'll be hard pressed to find a lot of quality content on any one outlet.
Subscribing to several in rotation is becoming the modern day alternative to carrying a bill as large as the old cable bundle.
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I could subscribe to every streaming service known to man and still pay less per month than the full non-promo price of Comcast cable.
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I hate it when people accuse me of being "cheap" because I don't accept the subscription model. It's not just the cost, it's the hassle of juggling so many accounts.
Physical media isn't really that great, but it's nice to have to option to walk into a store, buy something for $10, pop it into a player, and watch without interference. Now that everything has a subscription model, and everybody has their own damn service, I don't even watch shows and movies anymore. Fuck it.
That or just more piracy (Score:5, Insightful)
That or you can avoid that hassle by sitting on the same two or three accounts you've always had and if the movie or show you want to watch isn't on one of those then it gets pirated.
With streaming slowly devolving into the crapiness that is cable it wouldn't surprise me to see piracy rates go up.
We really had something nice with Netflix originally but everyone wanted a piece of the pie and now all of it is starting to suck.
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I'm just going to wait and hope that many of those options will find they're not making enough money rolling their own and partner with someone that is going to survive.
My money is on Disney, Amazon, Hulu, and Netflix in order of highest survival probability.
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You're probably right on the ranking which bums me out. I hate modern Disney as a content creator and wish they had stuck to kids animated films.
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Disney just owns too much stuff at this point to fail and people aren't going to stop having kids.
Amazon produces some pretty good stuff themselves actually and since it comes with Prime, I figure it'll last.
Hulu has adult Disney owned stuff and HBO is there plus all the networks that do want to be on it.
Netflix has inertia but I think they will become shells of themselves.
Anyone else is in my opinion a nobody since they don't have enough relevant content to survive. Peacock, CBS, Paramount, etc. I think of
Promoting piracy. (Score:2)
They aren't making "ad-supported tier" they are promoting piracy. Honestly, does anyone actually believe that piracy will be reduced by having many different streaming services, all with their own exclusive content, pricing, and advertisements?
* platform exclusive content locks out non-subscribers
* subscription prices for every services locks out people without money to burn
* non-optional advertisements locks out people who hate advertisements
These three things are all driving people to pirate videos and t
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Who said the ads are NON optional?
Look at HULU, the ads are only the lowest tier, you can pay more like Youtube Premium to get no ads.
This is great for developing markets (Score:3)
In low income/developing markets like LatAm (where I am), India, the rest of SE Asia, Africa, etc. there is not much money.
If implemented propperly, an ad-supported tier will be a boon in these markets, it may even help to slow down the practice of password-sharing or even piracy. I hope Netflix is successfull with this experiment. I just hope that, over time, the catalogues for each service are more homogeneous among geographies (so as not to need to resort to whack-a-mole VPN shenanigans to see content).
PlutoTV, TubiTV, Plex, Crackle, Hulu, Peacock, Paramount+, crunchyroll (among others) welcome Netflix to the fold.
I, for one, am happy. I'll check from time to time, to see how's going.
Re: This is great for developing markets (Score:2)
I've never understood this. If there's not much money with which people can pay subscriptions, aren't ad revenues also correspondingly lower?
An ad should only be worth as much as the profit off the thing you've persuaded someone to buy. If someone can't afford much subscription, can't they only afford correspondingly less products too?
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I've never understood this. If there's not much money with which people can pay subscriptions, aren't ad revenues also correspondingly lower?
An ad should only be worth as much as the profit off the thing you've persuaded someone to buy. If someone can't afford much subscription, can't they only afford correspondingly less products too?
In academic terms, in these markets there is less diposable income to speak of.
But we are talking about people that were able to buy a cheap (smart)Phone/TV and/or a Laptop (otherwise, they would not be able to watch ad-supportd OTT streaming like Hulu, PlutoTV, TubiTV or this propposed Netflix), but would rather shell out U$D19,99 a month "rumbeando" with friends, rather than on a subscription... OR even worse, people who can not afford a TV, a laptop or a Phone, so they watch at a cybercafe, the school's
Ads = cancel subscription (Score:4, Insightful)
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Obviously, if they inject ads on paying customers then yes, I will cancel. But if ad-supported is it's own tier, then why should I care?
I hope the people the let go (Score:5, Interesting)
are the same people who greenlit the cowboy bebop scripts.
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Argh, I never have mod points when I want them.
+1 agree.
Where's an oligarch when you need one? (Score:3)
Ads = goodbye (Score:3)
I despise ads, and will cancel if I see one.
Someone paying a subscription when they don't watch much has to be worth more than ad supported for someone who doesn't watch much.
I should probably just cancel anyway, so ads would definitely push me to do it.
Big step backwards (Score:3)
1) People leave TV and cable for streaming to get away from ads
2) Netflix raises prices in response to dropping subscribers
3) Netflix wants to add ads
It's like they are trying to drive themselves out of business
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1) People leave TV and cable for streaming to get away from ads
2) Netflix raises prices in response to dropping subscribers
3) Netflix wants to add ads
4) ???
5) PROFIT!
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hehehe, more like
5) Bankruptcy!
or
5) Bought out for pennies on the dollars and resurrected under new management
or just a mix if the two and a select picking up of successful shows by one of the other streaming giants
I don't think so, Netflix (Score:1)
Their own worst enemy (Score:2)
I've lost count of the number of times I've had a thought about a movie, typed it into Netflix only for it to recommend another movie which is conspicuously not the one I wanted to watch. Or a TV series that isn't there. And for new content, Netflix clearly shovels money into a bonfire sometimes - terrible movies with Hollywood A-listers and a budget to match, or ser
Boring (Score:2)
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Correct. Night Sky was at best a 90 minute movie. What a waste of celluloid.
Netflix is OBSOLETE (Score:2)
https://unblockit.name/ [unblockit.name]