
TV advertising has hit a wall thanks to streaming options like Netflix - prostoalex
https://qz.com/1240255/netflix-and-other-streaming-options-are-crushing-tv-advertising-in-the-us/
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knightofmars
This is all my opinion, I've never understood cable television. You are paying
for someone to provide you with advertisements. Sure, you get a lot of
channels and content but how many channels does the average person watch and
how often are you just turning on "something" to have on? I've never paid for
cable but as soon as Netflix DVD delivery came along I was on board and
haven't looked back. Going back to watching television with advertisements is
akin to nails on a chalkboard now. Which is odd because I still use free
Pandora and have no problems whatsoever with their advertising.

~~~
smacktoward
_> You are paying for someone to provide you with advertisements._

As was the case with newspapers and magazines for hundreds of years, as well
as more and more subscription-based sites today.

The advertisements defray the cost of the thing you are paying for. If they
weren't there, you'd have to pay much more for it.

~~~
michaelt

      The advertisements defray the cost of the thing you are
      paying for. If they weren't there, you'd have to pay much
      more for it.
    

Given that cable with ads averages over $100 a month [1] while Netflix without
ads charges $14 a month for the most expensive package [2] I think the
purported cost savings from having ads are not in evidence.

[1] [http://fortune.com/2016/09/23/average-cable-tv-
bill/](http://fortune.com/2016/09/23/average-cable-tv-bill/) [2]
[https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/5/16429126/netflix-price-
ra...](https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/5/16429126/netflix-price-raise-
standard-premium-tiers)

~~~
losteric
The corporate argument is that advertising pays for the content while
consumers pay for distribution. So the Netflix equivalent is your ISP price
(distribution) + Netflix subscription (content).

In practice, media consolidation is just shafting consumers with more ads and
service costs... both due to regulations that protect inefficiencies and sheer
corporate greed.

------
chomp
>Even marquee cable TV shows like The Walking Dead are having trouble holding
onto viewers.

You can't cite that, _The Walking Dead_ has story and writing problems outside
of general TV viewership declines.

I really hate advertising. There's a lot of investment in human psychology,
and I sometimes find myself being seduced by a piece of advertising. They
really know how to push my buttons.

It's insidious. Even news articles have paid content. Paid placement for TV
and movies (Netflix is not immune to this). It's everywhere, and impossible to
escape.

~~~
munk-a
For me the most revolting evolution of advertisement was when paid content
made it's way into the content of articles, i.e. "The Circular investigates
which brand of laundry detergent is best for getting out that wine stain"

But I think down the road a bit we'll find out how much advertising has cost
us as a society in terms of lost efficiency, it's an externality just like
dumping waste into a public water source except the water source is our
brain's attention span.

------
ChrisLTD
Advertising has invaded nearly every waking hour of our lives. I'm glad there
are services like Netflix that can give us some respite.

~~~
marnett
they have product placement out the wazoo, don't think otherwise.

~~~
thewarrior
Examples ?

~~~
burkaman
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGDgnp7-uck](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGDgnp7-uck)

------
ams6110
Incidentally I'm pretty annoyed that Amazon has started running promos for
other content in front of the content I selected. I pay for Prime, I don't
want to see ads. Even Amazon's.

~~~
behrlich
I've never encountered one of these that wasn't immediately skippable.

~~~
stephengillie
Do you not wander around your apartment, performing other tasks, while
watching shows? It's difficult to skip an ad when your hands are full of
pancake batter - or when you're standing across the room, to have a smoke out
the window.

------
pkulak
I recently switched my family's main TV over from using the OS on the TV
(WebOS, pretty good actually, which is why we used it this long) back to good
ol' Roku. My youngest heard about this and burst into tears for a good 20
minutes.

Turns out, he thought "Roku" was DirectTV, which his grandparents have. He was
sobbing about how on "Roku" shows keep stopping in the middle (ads, I assume),
if you turn off the TV the show doesn't stop, and that if you don't watch a
show in time, you have to wait weeks to watch it again.

Once I got everything powered up and he saw Netflix, Amazon, et all, he was
just fine again.

------
sharkweek
Plenty of data shows people will pay more to avoid ads
([https://exstreamist.com/poll-79-of-netflix-subscribers-
would...](https://exstreamist.com/poll-79-of-netflix-subscribers-would-rather-
pay-more-than-see-ads/))

Anecdotally, the $4 more a month I pay Hulu for an ad-free version of their
streaming service is the easiest money I spend on any entertainment.

------
soared
The "downside" to this is that advertising will switch from the old tv model
(buying ads based on which show they'll air during) to buying ads in the
internet-way (all the creepy facebook targeting, etc). I'm already managing
three of these campaigns, using third party data to buy tv commercials on
devices like roku and smart tv apps. So it doesn't matter what show the ad
airs on because its targeted to the user (household) who is watching the show.

Its around 5-10x more expensive than normal online video ads right now, but
50x cheaper than normal tv ads. Plus you can actually prove someone made a
purchase after seeing an ad.

This is called advanced tv or connected ctv (atv, ctv) if you're looking for
more info. Streaming on a pc/mobile is called full episode player (fep) and is
similar.

------
2474
I don't watch much TV or streaming services but I do appreciate a funny
advertisement[1] when I see it. Granted it never makes me want to purchase the
product.

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaldfjkrHy4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaldfjkrHy4)

Yes, I have childish humor.

------
0xfeba
Everyone and their mother will soon have a streaming service. I predict
eventually there will be some streaming conglomerate to allow you to pick and
choose streaming providers (Netflix, Hulu, NBC, etc.) with a single sign-on.
Right before they package them up as bundles, and we have Cable Company 2.0.

~~~
ams6110
I don't see the value-add there. We already have the common viewer (the
browser) and oauth single-sign-on is already widespread -- we don't need a
Comcast or any other conglomerate to do that.

~~~
time0ut
A single monthly bill and maybe a small bulk discount could entice me.

~~~
jasonlotito
VRV.co does this for a number of online streaming services that have their own
apps and content. The cost is much lower than subscribing to each service on
its own.

The value-add is convenience in having a single app to deal with on multiple
devices, a single login to deal with, a single payment that is fairly cheap
when compared to everything individually.

~~~
time0ut
Thank you. This is really great. I think my wife will be very interested in
the content they have.

------
msoad
Only if there was an HBO for sports too. I hate watching those stupid ads when
I watch live sports!

~~~
kevincennis
What would a service like that do during television timeouts?

I’ve found silent “we’ll be right back” screens to almost be worse than ads in
some ways. It’s just a weird feeling.

~~~
Spivak
Just treat it like any other timeout that's shown: show the fans, cut to the
coaches, cut to the commentators -- call it exclusive content any you're
pretty much golden.

~~~
flying_kangaroo
You could even have the commentators take a break during tv timeouts, and just
have some chill crowd shots. Maybe get some teams on board to show what they'd
do on jumbotrons during the breaks in action.

------
freeGuerrilla
Now advertising will inevitably saturate online content, I am looking at you
YouTube

~~~
lowmagnet
This is really the only reason I have a play/red subscription. Of course, this
doesn't stop YouTubers from placing sponsored messages everywhere.

~~~
crysin
YouTubers get a lot more money for their product placements than they do for
their views. Hell, almost universally all the Tech tubers did promos for
Dyson's new battery powered vacuum. YouTubers don't get a direct benefit for
you being a Red member, they're not salaried, and I'd hazard a guess that
there are a signifigant fewer amount of Red subscribers than there are
subscribers who just use adblocks. Personally no matter the amount of content
YouTubers put out I could never justify myself paying YouTube directly for the
privilege of not having to use an adblocker on their site.

------
oflannabhra
Once the Great Unbundling Event of the 2010s completes, I look forward to the
Great Rebundling Event of the 2020s to begin.

But seriously, cable actually did solve a lot of problems. I've never paid for
a cable TV subscription, but having to manage multiple services individually
is not an ideal solution, either.

~~~
maxxxxx
At some point Netflix will realize that there is money in selling ads and soon
Netflix will look like cable TV. It's just a matter of time.

~~~
Freak_NL
Only if its competitors all do this too, and no new competition can fill the
gap. Their current business model is profitable, so why resort to something
that can only cost you users and risks your current market leader position?

------
otakucode
Thank goodness. We have the Internet. Distribution of content is no longer a
task worth a kings ransom. A clever 12 year old can do it in their spare time.
These 'professionals' who fall on their face time and time again trying to
resurrect their antiquated system which is based solely on the difficulty of
getting content from A to B should have been eliminated a decade or two ago.
Let us see how well they like capitalism now.

------
upofadown
The lack of a change is the surprising thing here. The article could as easily
spun it as "TV advertising holding steady in the face of streaming".

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milofeynman
This is only going to increase the cable companies attempts to add more
Netflix-taxes to your internet bill. Comcast started it with their bandwidth
soft-caps, with $10 per 100gb over 1TB (it was originally 300gb). I'm lucky to
be on an isp that doesn't have a cap right now, but I'm sure it's in the
pipeline as cable subscriptions fall and advertising dollars decline.

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thrillgore
Right now, a third of the TV ads I will see on broadcast are political ads for
a candidate that praises the leadership of President Trump. On YouTube, I get
ads for the "non-profit" Prager University, which is just full of bullshit.

I personally love that Netflix doesn't have any advertisments, especially
polarizing ones.

~~~
jasonlotito
For YouTube, YouTube Red has been wonderful. No ads at all. At least they have
the option.

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mohaba
Good. I was long tired of paying to be advertised to.

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farresito
Thanks god. Fuck those guys, seriously.

------
googletron
start advertising through [https://brave.com](https://brave.com)

~~~
doubt_me
Can't install umatrix or uorigin.

Nope.

------
SubiculumCode
I wonder if Netflix or Amazon prime will try to introduce advertising. I
notice that they are sometimes inserting ads in the beginning of a
movie/episode, but so far only to promote their new show offerings.

~~~
lambda_lover
It's only a matter of time before it's needed to maintain revenue growth...

------
johnmarcus
Netflix content has gotten so f _&_ ing boring I'm likely going to cancel my
account soon. I'm tired of 500 shows season 1&2\. Would much rather prefer 100
shows with season 1-4+. At this point, it's clear they have recruited
Hollywoods most seasoned producers, and with it, all the garbage that was
already being produced.

~~~
wetpaws
Based on their revenue I'm pretty sure they know what are they doing

