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Get ready for the age of ad-supported streaming.
Services like Netflix are defined by ad-free streaming. But this business model gets more expensive every year and customers are starting to feel the pain. Ad-supported streaming is the only solution: it’s cheap and profitable, and in just a few years it will become the norm.
The era of cheap ad-free streaming is over
Streaming services used to be a serious bargain. Netflix originally charged just $7.99 a month and offered an incredible library of shows and movies – it was a clear and attractive alternative to cable TV.
But the era of cheap streaming is over. Services like Netflix and Hulu now cost between $12 and $15 a month. And now that each media corporation owns a single streaming platform, customers who want a wide selection of shows and movies are forced to join multiple services.
Let’s do some math. As of October 2022, customers who subscribe to Hulu, Netflix, HBO Max, and Disney+ ad-free pay a total of $48 in streaming each month. That’s $576 a year, which is a ridiculous amount of money, especially during an economic downturn.
If you haven’t felt the sting of these rising costs, just wait. Streaming services are trying to crack down on password sharing, and Netflix is leading the way. Additionally, outside companies now see “password hacking” as a business opportunity. Adobe recently released an “anti-piracy” tool to help streaming services resolve this issue and recover “lost profits.”
To be clear, I believe today’s streaming market is the product of corporate greed, incompetence, and myopia. In the early years, services like Netflix were so hell-bent on dominating the streaming business that they created an unsustainable environment: IPs are overpriced, multibillion-dollar bidding wars are the norm, and expensive new content is released without a hitch. watch out in hopes of tripping over a paste.
I’d love to go back in time and grab some CEOs by the throat. Maybe we could have avoided this mess. But that ship has sailed, and ad-supported plans are the future of streaming.
Ad-supported streaming will become standard
As of 2022, ads are the biggest trend in streaming. All the major services, including Disney+, Netflix and HBO Max, now acknowledge that the ads will alleviate rising costs for consumers and produce a steady stream of profit.
Customers are tired of these ad-supported plans, which always seem to debut alongside a price increase. But ad-supported plans will serve their purpose: they will keep prices low. And you just need to look at Hulu for proof.
Hulu launched in 2007 as a free, ad-supported service. Its only paid subscription tier, called “Hulu Plus,” unlocked a bunch of popular shows for $7.99 but didn’t remove ads.
Today, “Hulu Plus” is called “Hulu with Ads.” Its price tends to fluctuate, and most notably, it dropped to just $5.99 per month in 2019. But today it costs $7.99, the same price users were paying more than a decade ago. (For comparison, Hulu’s ad-free plan debuted for $12.99 in 2015. It’s now $14.99 a month.)
Clearly, ad-supported streaming plans are profitable enough to keep the price competitive. And in some situations, they can be blackberries cost-effective than ad-free memberships. A New York Times The 2019 article details how Hulu earns, on average, $15 per subscriber each month – Hulu’s ad-free plan was just $12.99 per month in 2019. The extra money came from ads!
As streaming prices continue to rise, ad-supported memberships will become the standard. There is simply no other option. Customers can’t afford to pay $15 to $20 a month for multiple services, but they will pay half that price and tolerate some ads.
We will not enjoy the lifestyle with advertising
If we’re lucky, the trend toward ads could usher in a new “golden age” of streaming: We haven’t enjoyed low or consistent prices in nearly a decade, and streaming services can churn out exciting content thanks to increased cash flow.
But we shouldn’t celebrate the transition to ad-supported streaming. Ads frustrate viewers and, more importantly, cloud the streaming experience. Modern shows like Strange things Feel so theatrical and binge-worthy. because they are made to be viewed without advertising.
Furthermore, ad-supported broadcasting will not solve corporate greed or incompetence. Streaming services will continue to make decisions that hurt customers: The first few years of streaming with ads will be tolerable, but at some point, ads will be more frequent and prices will rise.
What can you do?
The transition to ad-supported streaming is inevitable. But ad-free streaming memberships will still exist. If you hate ads, I suggest you get in the habit of “rotating” your streaming services.
This is a fairly simple concept; Instead of paying for a dozen streaming services, pay for one ad-free membership at once. Join Netflix and immediately cancel your subscription so it doesn’t renew at the end of the month. Then, if HBO Max releases a great show, you can join their service. Get up, repeat and enjoy cheap ad-free streaming.
You could also invest in physical media. I know, DVDs and Blu-Rays are very expensive on Amazon, which is why you should go to thrift stores, flea markets, and swap meets. Nobody wants discs anymore, so aftermarket DVDs and Blu-Rays are a ridiculously good bargain.
Please note that physical media can be digitized. And if you set up a Plex server, you can stream this media from anywhere – you can create your own ad-free streaming service.
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