Yes, it’s ironic, especially considering they had a dedicated 30-second skip button on their remotes.
A meta thread for video streaming services - Netflix, Hulu, Disney, HBO, Warner, Prime, AppleTV, etc
There are good reasons to have ads though.
Ads lower the barrier of entry. Not just because it reduces or eliminates payments for the consumer, but free services don’t require any signup information. So you can provide a service without having to create a profile. This is nice if a service only has 1 or 2 shows that you like, such as the CW App.
There are more clear incentives to watching shows. Netflix gets the same dime whether you watch Netflix or not while services that have ads get paid only if someone watches the show/ad. This can have the negative consequence of cliff hangers, or adding filer, but on the other hand, the payment is direct. So if you don’t watch much television, the ‘payment’ (in terms of watching ads) is reduced. That isn’t the case with Netflix.
Finally, it’s democratizing. No paywall means that people of all sorts of different social-economic levels can take part. Whether you live in a 1 room apartment, or in a villa, the cost is the same, just your attention.
So, I can see why ads might be considered popular. Now, this forum of relatively wealthy, general CIS white Males might have a lot of good arguments for why ads are the bane of existence, but we also have more disposable income than many people in the US, and as White Males, a lot of genres are very much catered to by almost every platform. That might not be the case for other groups that make up the USA, and when the things you like are spread over 5 or 6 services, trying to pay for it all might be too much hassle.
I think the correct takeaway here is “there are too many streaming services asking for our money” and not “we want ads”. Personally I’d be willing to suffer some ads on a free tier or something like Pluto and less willing to add yet another subscription with a login to keep track of. Hulu and Peacock’s lower tiers and traditional television are the worst of both cases, making you pay to be advertised to.
There’s nothing inherent about that. C4, for instance, is free and has mandatory ads and requires signup.
Well cleared the whole “people want ads” thing is spin. They say it in the body of the article. People would prefer free with ads over paid with no ads. They merely shifted the emphasis from the true desire, free service.
There is no inherent reason to have a sign up either, take for example the CW App, or if you don’t mind going more broadly, most Podcast networks (such as TWIT or Maximun Fun) or even Youtube, which is the king of streaming services.
So, there are plenty of ad-driven networks that don’t require sign up.
On the other hand, I can’t think of a single streaming service that charges a fee that doesn’t require you to sign up.
Sure, but I was pushing back against the idea that “free services don’t require any signup information”. Many of them do. If the claim is simply that ads make it easier to monetise content without requiring a sign-up, then fine. But, equally, I’d definitely take a sign-up over the privacy shit-show that is in practice the reality of monetising internet content through advertising.
I hear you.
My only argument is that if you have an up and coming service that happens to have a Roku or Amazon Fire App, it’s easier to get people to try it if there is no log in, and I can’t think of any ways to monetize that, except through advertising.
With the exception of Free Youtube (which I have a login in for because I use GMail) I don’t use many free streaming services but that is because I know what I like, and I have the means to sign up for things I want to watch.
Nice! That’s a new one.
My favorite moment was a slight zoom into Tom with goggles on (from Tom & Jerry) as part of the badass montage.
I don’t how this is going to work out for HBO/WB in the long run, especially with some strife with their talent and theaters, but they’re all on in with this approach, so I guess I will just see where we’re at the end of my 6months.
Copied from resetera.com. I just did this and it worked for me. Had to use my wife’s email address since I had already used mine to sign up for CBS All Access before.
Get 16 months of commercial free CBS All Access for $9.99:
I wanted share this deal I found on Slickdeals. I just did it so it’s not dead. cbs all access with no commercials for 9.99 just follow these instructions
- Go to Sportsline.com
- Sign up for 1 year subscription, and enter the promocode PLAYOFF
- You will be charged 9.99
- Then, go into your account infor at Sportsline.com and click OFFERS
- One offer is to give you free CBS All access commercial free. Select that, and follow the links to set up a CBS AA account and link it to your Sportsline account
- Verify your CBS AA works by streaming something briefly (if desired.)
- Go back to sportsline.com, and enter the account page
- Select Cancel Subscription
- A page will pop up that looks like this https://imgur.com/bGJVr7S
10.At the bottom, click the button confirming you will continue your subscription. NO SECOND CODE was needed to get the extra 6 months.- You MUST set a reminder to cancel before the next billing date. Mine is 01/28/22. Or you’ll get charged $99!
That’s pretty awesome there. Slickdeals is usually pretty spot on with these kinds of deals so I think I will check this one out.
I’m already on a free month of CBS All Access, so I’m not sure if that will work for me. For that good of a deal though, it’s worth finding out or using a different email to setup a new account. Thanks!
EDIT: Hmmm, on the sportsline sign up screen it specifically says in all caps that All Access membership is not available during this special promotional period.
I had no problem with it at all I am now active until July 2022! Thanks for the heads up. PS: I did not have a previous CBS account so perhaps that is why Rock8man had issues.
Yes, I’m now good until late July 2022 under a new email account. I couldn’t tie in to an existing account. It’s all good!
Nice, all set until July 2022 now. Thanks for the heads up!
I wonder how “16 months of CBS All Access” squares with the fact that they’re discontinuing CBS All Access to implement “Paramount+.” If it carries over, that’d be a great deal. If it doesn’t, it’s a terrible one.
Your access is via a CBS All Access account, so unless they’re going to force all current subscribers to re-sub, it seems like it’ll be fine.