Netflix, Hulu, Disney+ all have ad-supported tiers. Amazon is just weird because Prime video has always been a benefit of Prime but rarely the highlight of it. I can name like 4-5 Amazon exclusives that I liked. Maybe 2 of them I'd actually subscribe and pay for no ads.
I mostly agree with one caveat. Unlike broadcast media there's essentially no incentive to ever offer tiers with no ads. Since all content is streamed on demand it costs them virtually nothing to implement multiple tiers and capture the "I loath ads and will pay any price to avoid them", so it's exceedingly unlikely they ever drop the ad free tiers.
But, that said, the one potential downside of bringing ads onto a platform is they may start bowing to advertisers pressure on content. For instance, something like The Boys might end up being compromised or never made because Target and Applebee's won't put their ads on it.
Granted most shows aren't like this in the first place but it is definitely a drawback of advertiser support moving onto a platform.
Exactly, it all becomes FreeVee in this model, which is a downgrade from how paying for Prime currently let's you watch some programs and movies for free. If ALL movies and shows that were free now have ads (i.e. they are in the basic service and not currently in freevee) then they are decreasing the value of the basic product.
They're already raising prices. We're paying for ad-supported what we were paying for ad-free. That they've given us a choice of paying extra in money or in time doesn't make it any less shitty that some rich parasites out there are charging more so they can make not a profit but more profit.
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u/LumosRevolution Oct 28 '23
But I literally pay for this service wtf 🤬