Netflix’s ad-supported plan sounds like a failure waiting to happen
The rumored ad-supported tier of Netflix is official but it sounds like junk. Keep in mind that while some streaming services are trying to get rid of their ad-supported tier (like Crunchyroll/Funimation), Netflix is trying to do the opposite because of lack of “subscriber growth”.
So here are the deets: $6.99 a month (basically, $7); about 4 to 5 minutes of ads per hour; max resolution is 720p; will have approximately 10% less titles available than regular tiers; no downloads; limited to one viewer (screen) at a time.
Considering that their lowest non-ad plan is $9.99 (Basic) with basically (heh) the same limits except for no ads and the availability of the full library, one has to really consider if that extra $3 a month is worth the hassle of ads and the unavailability of titles. Is your time worth less than the $3 per month that you’ll save? To me, it doesn’t make much sense as a customer.
The thing is, you’re not the one they are trying to target. Sounds weird? Yeah, kinda. The obvious party they are trying to satisfy with this move is the shareholders. “More money please, even if it means sacrificing the future,” is the common mantra of shareholders. That’s not new, and they’ll always be there. The second party they are targeting are the advertisers. Netflix said that the ad-supported plan is “an exciting opportunity for advertisers”. So this whole mess is not for you, it’s for the advertisers. Now it makes sense (sort of).
Honestly, I don’t think it will make sense to advertisers either, at least in the long run. Maybe there will be a bump in ad agencies trying it out, but in terms or value to advertisers, to be honest, Google Ads (and the like) already have a better way to advertise for an advertiser. If you didn’t know Google Ads basically track everything. In most cases they only charge an advertiser if someone clicks on their ad, indicating actual interest. So why pay to show an ad to a bunch of people who may or may not be interested? Well, that was the old way of doing things. So why is Netflix trying to sell this service which is like the old way of doing things? Because they are thinking of the money potential and not whether it is great for the customers (in this case the advertisers). And this may be at the cost of their existing customers (the subscribers). All so they can overpay for content that no one really wants to watch while suffocating the stuff that people want to watch but may be a slower ramp up. And can you blame us if it takes a while to get into a show when Netflix has a habit of killing shows soon after we start getting into them? So that means they aren't satisfying their current customers (the subscribers) either. The problem isn’t on the front end, it’s on the backend… but it is easier to blame others than to blame yourself.
So they are trying to fix the money issue by looking outward instead of inward. Oh, and basically competing against Google’s Ads delivered via YouTube, which, as you all know, is a free service. Not sure that is a smart move.
I’m hoping this ad-supported thing bites them so hard in the butt that they’ll get on their knees and apologize publicly, Japanese style. No, not seppuku, but the deep bow with face and palms into the ground and butts in the air type apology. Okay, maybe a bit salty here but I can’t believe they are going forward with it.
The fun starts November 3rd.
