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Netflix Is Experimenting With Advertising 318

Posted by samzenpus from the here-comes-hulu-2 dept.
derekmead writes: Netflix is experimenting with pre-roll and post-roll advertisements for some of its users. For now, it's just pitching it's own original programming. However, many are concerned that they plan to serve third-party ads, but the company says they have no plans to do so. They told Mashable in a statement: "We are not planning to test or implement third-party advertising on the Netflix service. For some time, we've teased Netflix originals with short trailers after a member finishes watching a show. Some members in a limited test now are seeing teases before a show begins. We test hundreds of potential improvements to the service every year. Many never extend beyond that."
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Netflix Is Experimenting With Advertising More

Netflix Is Experimenting With Advertising

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  • In other words (Score:5, Insightful)

    by MightyMartian ( 840721 ) on Monday June 01, 2015 @06:20PM (#49818319) Journal

    In other words, within a year or two we will be rolling out ads that you will be forced to watch before you can view the programming you pay a subscription fee for.

    • Re:In other words (Score:5, Insightful)

      by JMJimmy ( 2036122 ) on Monday June 01, 2015 @06:24PM (#49818337)

      In other words, I'll be moving to the next service that does not advertise. Or just torrent/stream (with adblock of course).

      • Re:In other words (Score:5, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01, 2015 @06:56PM (#49818519)

        Exactly, the reason I pay them is to avoid the shit.

        Netflix, this is the quickest way you can loose customers.

        I stopped buying DVDs because of the forced trailers which are completely meaningless 6 months later and are just plain bloody annoying after that.

        Maybe...just maybe actors etc are not worth the millions you pay them. Perhaps that is the "New" business model where Millions of dollars can be saved.

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by KGIII ( 973947 )

          That is why I do not subscribe to Hulu. I tried it for a month but still got ads so I canceled. I stopped watching television because I dislike the ads and the limited content was not justification for watching the ads. I will cancel my Netflix account if this happens to me. That was not what I agreed to when I joined right after their inception. I recall skimming (not reading all of it) their ToS and I do not recall that being subjected to ads was a part of it.

        • Re:In other words (Score:4, Funny)

          by kuzb ( 724081 ) on Tuesday June 02, 2015 @02:25AM (#49820233)

          "Netflix, this is the quickest way you can loose customers."

          Are they going to start firing them from catapults? I would be strongly against this!

      • Re:In other words (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01, 2015 @07:03PM (#49818573)

        This. I'm a loyal Netflix subscriber but if they start to run ads, I'll go back to torrents so fast it'll make their heads spin.

      • Re: In other words (Score:5, Interesting)

        by AvitarX ( 172628 ) <me@brandywinehund r e d .org> on Monday June 01, 2015 @07:04PM (#49818585) Journal

        I really hope they don't do pre show ads, hbo does it, and it's a huge pain.

        It's doubly a pain to see the same ones when binge watching.

        I understand why hbo does this, they need to alert you to new content to keep you interested, but Netflix already does this on the home screen. They don't need to do ads, even for content I want to know about, before I watch something (I'm fine with it afterwards).

        • Re: In other words (Score:5, Insightful)

          by Mashiki ( 184564 ) <mashiki&gmail,com> on Monday June 01, 2015 @07:06PM (#49818595) Homepage

          I'd be up for it if they cut the price by 50% for those that are willing to see them, otherwise they can take their ads and shove them up their ass.

          • Re: In other words (Score:5, Insightful)

            by JMJimmy ( 2036122 ) on Monday June 01, 2015 @07:28PM (#49818749)

            I'd be up for it if they cut the price by 50% for those that are willing to see them, otherwise they can take their ads and shove them up their ass.

            That's the slippery slope that led to Cable TV.

          • what if they ran ads instead of raising prices? would you pay more for an ad-free Netflix?

            • Re: In other words (Score:4, Informative)

              by praxis ( 19962 ) on Monday June 01, 2015 @07:48PM (#49818851)

              I would.

            • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

              by slickepott ( 733214 )

              Yes I would.

            • Re: (Score:3)

              by Teckla ( 630646 )

              would you pay more for an ad-free Netflix?

              I would rather pay more than have ads.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by mellon ( 7048 )

              More to the point, I would not pay for Netflix with ads. Netflix is quite reasonably priced at the moment. If they needed to charge more to avoid using ads, I would be okay with that. Of course they could charge sufficiently more that I wouldn't be okay with it, but I don't think they need to. The whole reason I use Netflix instead of TV is that I despise ads. HBO Now's advertising before each GoT episode really pisses me off, and makes me not want to use the service.

          • I'd be up for it if they cut the price by 50% for those that are willing to see them, otherwise they can take their ads and shove them up their ass.

            Sure. First they'll double the price - citing "market forces" and/or "distribution costs" - then offer you a 50% discount to tolerate ads / commercials. Problem solved ...

          • Re: (Score:3)

            by mjwx ( 966435 )

            I'd be up for it if they cut the price by 50% for those that are willing to see them, otherwise they can take their ads and shove them up their ass.

            They'd need to cut the price by 100% for me to accept ads.

            • Re: In other words (Score:5, Insightful)

              by the_Bionic_lemming ( 446569 ) on Monday June 01, 2015 @09:49PM (#49819427)

              Same here. I pay Netflix for ad free viewing.

              I will stop paying for netflix when it's not ad free viewing.

              Ads are meant to pay for shows. I should not be forced to pay to watch ads.

              We cut the cord because of ads - not because we're willing to pay for ad free content. If comcast served up all of its content adfree - I'd jump right into comcast.

              It's that simple.

              Free TV can have ads.

              Commercial free tv can charge for content.

              This is what the consumer wants.

        • Re: In other words (Score:5, Insightful)

          by Qzukk ( 229616 ) on Monday June 01, 2015 @07:09PM (#49818605) Journal

          It's doubly a pain to see the same ones when binge watching.

          Those are absolutely the worst. Watching the same preview the second time is almost as bad as when I pull out a years old DVD and have* to sit through ancient trailers before I can start watching the movie. By the third time I see the same preview the same day, it's worse.

          *: or use a non-compliant DVD player that allows skipping this shit. Either/or.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by praxis ( 19962 )

          The HBO ads shown in their Now streams can be skipped, at least. I wonder if the same is true for Netflix ads.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by lgw ( 121541 )

          I really hope they don't do pre show ads, hbo does it, and it's a huge pain.

          The post-show ads I'm OK with, for Netflix, as it's nice to know what Netflix is working on and they're trivially skippable.

          • Pre-show can be bad though. That's my bandwidth, it's not infinite and it's not free. The home page ads for their own shows should be good enough to garner interest.

            Seriously, do we need a DVR to watch netflix just so we can skip the ads like the old days...

      • Re:In other words (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Anubis IV ( 1279820 ) on Monday June 01, 2015 @07:32PM (#49818771)

        Bingo. I've had an account on Hulu since it was back in closed beta, but I never "upgraded" to their for-pay Hulu Plus service because they don't remove the ads. It's just there for when I feel like having something running on the second monitor and don't really care what it is. I don't care about watching the latest and greatest, so Netflix has me covered with years of content that I'll never get through fully. If Netflix stops being awesome, I'll hop over to Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, the rumored YouTube paid subscription, or one of the other services that competes in this space. If those end up being too costly or not-awesome, I'll simply start playing more games and working on more side projects.

        At this point, I really don't tolerate paying places that treat me as anything other than a valued customer. As it is, for $5-10, I can...
        1) Enjoy a 40-hour game from Steam.
        2) Enjoy a film or two at the local theaters (yes, it's that cheap here).
        3) Enjoy two or three rented films via streaming.
        4) Enjoy an entire month of ad-free Netflix.
        5) Enjoy a multitude of snacks while coding for fun.
        6) Enjoy a light meal with friends.
        7) Waste 20-25% of my time watching ads on Hulu for content I would have already paid for.

        One of those is not like the other. Netflix is not just competing against Hulu, and they need to remember that. They're competing against every other hobby their users have. Right now, they treat me well and do so for a good price, but if Netflix wants to join Hulu in treating their customers as their products, then I'll gladly say "bon voyage".

      • NF had its peak right before the big flix-gate (lol) when they upped the price, removed streaming and changed plans on everyone.

        at that point, I dropped them and never looked back.

        vpn is $10 or less. torrents are free. there are NO ADS in torrents. no drm, and good compression yet still watchable.

        I have not found a reason to resume paying for content. if an enlightened company gives me a good reason, I could consider it. but I'm not interested in resuming netflix and now that they are starting to SHOW

      • And if there is no such service, I'll just get another hobby. I hate ads that much.

    • That will get me to cancel my subscription, I don't need to watch most of the crap on there anyway and I gladly pay other services to NOT have to endure advertisements, we are constantly bombarded enough so any escape is good!

    • They'll suck like Hulu.

      I mean damn,... experiment with not trying to wring ever escalating profit margins. Netflix is awesome -- and will get better with more original programming and the flood of Indie films that will go direct to web soon.

      Adding commercials will just mean the same old suck of network television. The News Media already works for the people paying for the commercials -- not to inform the public. Netflix, your early adopters are the people who fled the lowering bar of network and cable TV.

    • Remember the days when "pay TV" (cable) didn't have advertising?

      If Netflix forces me to watch ads, I will do as you have suggested. Heck, that reminds me. I need to suspend my Netflix account.

    • Don't have Netflix anymore, and if this is the way of things then they can go fuck themselves or provide their service free of charge. What utter bullshit. You PAY for a service and you have ads shoved in your face? Seriously?
    • Or perhaps they are looking at ways to shore up their offerings against Youtube and other streaming services who have free-tier offerings. If they can offer a free streaming with ad rolls, they can increase their viewer base and offer ads to sell their standard subscription based streaming service.

  • I remember when... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by linear a ( 584575 ) on Monday June 01, 2015 @06:28PM (#49818365)
    Ah ... I remember when cable TV started putting ads in. Didn't turn out pretty.

  • No (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Imagix ( 695350 ) on Monday June 01, 2015 @06:29PM (#49818371)
    Just, no. Slippery slope. It starts with ads for it's own stuff. Followed by ads from "selected" partners. I've paid my subscription fee. No ads.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • The one advantage we have with Netflix over broadcast stations is that it is on demand and, like websites, it is conceivable that if the ads become obnoxious it will motivate someone to provide a plugin to Ad Blocker to deal with them like there is for YouTube.

  • I could live with a post-show teaser... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Radical Moderate ( 563286 ) on Monday June 01, 2015 @06:31PM (#49818387)
    ...provided they don't show the same damn one every time. I find a lot of good shows through the "Recommended for You" category, if they teased one of those I'd be OK with it. But it's a slippery slope. You kids won't believe this, but used to be we didn't have to sit through half an hour of commercials in movie theaters, they even showed cartoons before the movie. And my lawn, get off it.

    • Re:I could live with a post-show teaser... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by ghjm ( 8918 ) on Monday June 01, 2015 @07:06PM (#49818593) Homepage

      And my axe. Get off it also.

    • Re:I could live with a post-show teaser... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by TapeCutter ( 624760 ) on Monday June 01, 2015 @08:08PM (#49818941) Journal
      Yep, I grew up in a country town that is now an outer suburb of Melbourne. Saturday afternoons was the "$0.20 children's matinee" at the local theater, first we got a couple of cartoons, then everyone stood quietly to attention for "god save the queen", then John Wayne would come on and there was a roar of delight from the crowd, then we all start playing cowboys and indians in the theater. The adult staff did not try to control our behaviour, except to make sure we all stood quietly for the national anthem ( if you were silly enough to be sitting down an usher would come over and lift you to your feet by your ear), no child was ever thrown out, and we took full advantage of that policy. :).

      Somewhat ironic that my first memory of "freedom".is being locked in a large padded room with 100 kids and John Wayne. Still, it worked out great from a social POV, everyone shopped on Saturday morning because the shops were closed Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday, so after "shopping with the kids", the kids got to burn off their energy and mum and dad got a quiet afternoon to restore theirs.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Pulzar ( 81031 )

      It's why once you start going to Alamo, you can't watch movies anywhere else. There are still cartoons and funny clips before the movie, no commercials, zero policy on noise and phones...

      And, of course, great selection of beer and food.

  • To claim Netflix doesn't advertise omits a very background, but present form of advertising. It's called product placement, and it's where instead of buying some generic Cola or use a generic computer, or random cellphone, they clearly show it's a Coca-Cola, or an Apple iMac or a Samsung. If you ever wonder why they show closeups of a phone's screen or something, it's usually to show the logo for a second or two. Normally they'd just have the actor say it out loud (oh look, a call from Dad, etc), but if it'

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by bondsbw ( 888959 )

      This definitely happens in Netflix originals, although I'd say it's no more than shows on other networks.

    • Actually if that is done well then I don't mind it at all since it is almost invisible. However when done badly it is the most obnoxious of all advertizing since it is impossible to avoid as it is part of the show.

      • I think there was an entire season of Bones with scenes where they talked about the features of the car. Normally car rides on TV are for explanations or mundane problem solving sessions, but this was just cringe worthy. It went from background TV to never being watched again...

    • Yes product placement is unobtrusive but it's expensive and cannot replace normal advertising, if it could it would have done so back in the 1920's. The sponsor's wallet controls how the ad will be displayed, forcing people to sit thru ads to get to the meat is just fucking rude behaviour from penny pinching sponsors, I'm trying to train my own wallet to avoid doing business with them.

  • Google Play, Netflix (Score:5, Insightful)

    by DoofusOfDeath ( 636671 ) on Monday June 01, 2015 @06:38PM (#49818429)

    Google Play placed ads at the beginning of Archer episodes. It pissed by off considerably. I pay good money to NOT see commercials. Being force-fed ads when I paid for something (a movie ticket, a Google Play video, etc.) is about the surest way to get me to stop paying you money.

    Seriously, fuck you Google. And if you do this, fuck you Netflix too.

  • You can bet that there is an audience, certain type of clients, who would be very interesting to certain advertisers. Many sales departments are after the top strata of the society and their disposable income.

    You can bet that if someone in a household with the income of $500K or more is watching a lot of netflix movies, then the revenues from advertisers would probably be more than enough to pay subscription fee and Netflix would probably even make a tidy profit.

    Quite frankly, I am surprised that they have

    • The high-income households are just going to get pay-per-view in HD. The goal for Netflix/Amazon is to have as much content as possible available, as soon as possible for newer items, and a huge past collection.

      The online services could destroy Redbox if it could pay for earlier access to new content. All it takes is money, probably on a per-movie basis at first, and after other contractual isses expire or are otherwise mitigated.

      I would pay $10 at home for a HD version of a movie 2-4 weeks after theatric

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Sowelu ( 713889 )

        If you want stuff ASAP after release, Amazon's option to buy digital movies is pretty hard to beat. The business model is completely antithetical to what everyone on Slashdot likes, and it's pricey, but if speed is your absolute only criteria...it wins. Publishers allow sales before they allow rentals. (If it wasn't so expensive, they wouldn't let it go on sale so early, because it cannibalizes box office figures.)

  • But if they let this take root, it's their last for me.

  • We had better be able to skip these or NetFlix is in the trash.

  • Just in case this isn't very clear: (Score:5, Informative)

    by xtal ( 49134 ) on Monday June 01, 2015 @06:51PM (#49818497)

    We will HAPPILY PAY MORE MONEY if you explain your circumstances.

    We do not want to watch ads. Full up.

    Thank you.

    Sincerely,
    The Internet.

    • We will HAPPILY PAY MORE MONEY

      You will be paying more money anyway.

      .
      The streaming prices are currently being kept low to build the customer base and lure people away from cable TV. Once a critical mass of streaming customers is reached, the content providers will begin raising the prices they charge to the streaming companies.

      The content providers have done a similar thing with cable TV (causing most of the monthly price increases). It worked for them with cable TV, they will try it again with streaming.

      Netflix is just trying to

    • We? speak for yourself
  • Wait, so do they rip the DVD/BDs, add in some ads, then re-burn them?

    Of course, I still wouldn't see them, since I rip them before watching specifically to remove the ads and "unskippable" bullshit, but...

    Oh! Wait - This only affects people already happily paying for a lower qual*BUFFERING*ity product. Never mind, then - Carry on with your paid inferior YouTube clone. ;)

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Sowelu ( 713889 )

      You should really talk to someone about your connection problems. Can't say I ever have buffering issues on Netflix. The video quality might not be blu-ray, but I'm not watching in a home theater, either.

  • Netflix Is Experimenting With Advertising (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Snufu ( 1049644 ) on Monday June 01, 2015 @07:56PM (#49818887)

    Bye Netflix. It was fun while it lasted.

  • So the big 3 (CBS, ABC, NBC) pretty much ruled the airwaves for years through this model.

    Who's to say netflix isn't offering a free, commercial laden version of their programming? Free with ads, $10@mo without.

  • I stopped using Netflix for DVD rentals because more and more of the DVDs I was receiving had non-skippable advertising before the movie started. Now Netflix is going to start chasing away their streaming customers because advertisers want to place forced-viewing ads before program streams.

    .
    Netflix is becoming part of the problem, not part of the solution.

  • "We are not planning to" != "We do not intend to" (Score:5, Interesting)

    by QuietLagoon ( 813062 ) on Monday June 01, 2015 @08:24PM (#49819021)
    How many times have companies told us that they do not plan to do something, only to do it a year or two later?
  • No
    No
    No
    No
    No
    No
    No
    No
    and a big fat No.

    Does Netflix want a competitor to wipe them out? Cause this is how you get a competitor to wipe you out!

  • I remember the 80s when the sales pitch for HBO was uninterrupted, uncut movies and no advertisements. Then somehow, "pay TV" also became filled with advertisements as well, even though you were still paying for it.

  • Don't push your luck (Score:3)

    by nehumanuscrede ( 624750 ) on Monday June 01, 2015 @11:30PM (#49819751)

    The quickest way to go bankrupt would be to screw over your customer base.

    Everyone using Netflix does so because we've had it with the bullshit dished out by the big players. ( cable, satellite, uverse, etc )

    We don't want the GD ads. Why is this so difficult to grasp ? The whole POINT of paying for content is so we don't get harassed with advertising every ten fucking minutes. It's so bad we now go out of our way to avoid or actively filter it. That alone should tell you something.

    Believe me when I say your bandwidth / peering problems will go away almost overnight when you start putting in ads because you'll probably set a world record for customers lost in shortest amount of time.

    Don't say we didn't warn you. . .

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