Remember When Netflix Said No Ads Ever
Remember that time Netflix said they'd never have commercials? Never is a really long time. Looks like they'll be rolling out their ad supported subscription for consumers on November 3rd.
Don't jump for joy, yet. Some Netflix content won't be available to the bargain subscribers. Only time will tell what that actually means, but, being in marketing myself, my hunch is if you want to see what's big on Netflix at the moment, like Tiger King in the pandemic or Squid game last year, will only be available for the premium subscribers.
They're also locking up the sharing password thing. However, they're offering some kind of discount to you for paying for the extra tvs using your password.
HBOMAX has a couple of tiers of subscribership. I go with the top tier because it's my favorite channel. That runs me about $20 a month. You can get it for as low as $7.99 a month, but you're locked out of premieres that are in the theatre at the same time that HBO runs them. I'm betting Netflix will be the same.
This leads me to a couple of thoughts.
First, so many of these so-called commercial free app subscriptions are coming up with, what they think, are sneaky ways to make you sit through an ad even though you pay premium prices to skip it. The first 2 that come to mind are Hulu and Peacock. It's really starting to irritate me, too. And I'm a radio person! Commercials pay me, so I have a much bigger tolerance for them than most people. When and HOW do we, as consumers, draw the line.
Second, are we getting app fatigue? Are we getting nickel and dimed to death? App tv is tricky because it sounds like $5.99 a month is a bargain. And it is, until you have 10 apps on your tv that are running you about $60 a month, and you find you only really watch 2 of them. When Netflix premiered as an app, they were really the only game in town, or one of the very few games in town. Now EVERYONE has an app. There are even channels just for our pets, for a price.
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