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Netflix Will Now Interrupt Series Binges With Video Ads For Its Other Series (arstechnica.com)
Netflix has confirmed that it will start airing video ads for other Netflix series between episodes. These ads will reportedly only be for Netflix content, not outside products or content, and will, at least for now, only appear for a "segment" of Netflix's user base. Ars Technica reports: The news emerged via user reports, particularly on the primary Netflix Reddit community, in which users claimed that ads for entirely different series would play between episodes of a given show's binging. One initial claim said that "unskippable" ads for the AMC series Better Call Saul appeared between episodes of Rick & Morty, and that this ad appeared while using Netflix's smart TV app on an LG set in the UK. Replies to that thread included an allegation that a video ad for I Am A Killer (a Netflix-produced true-crime series) appeared between episodes of the animated comedy Bob's Burgers.
In a statement given to Ars Technica, Netflix described the change as follows: "We are testing whether surfacing recommendations between episodes helps members discover stories they will enjoy faster." The reasoning, Netflix's statement says, comes from its last controversial decision: to add auto-playing videos, complete with unmuteable audio, while browsing through Netflix content. Netflix offered one major rebuttal to at least one Reddit claim, pointing out that the ads for Netflix content are entirely skippable.
In a statement given to Ars Technica, Netflix described the change as follows: "We are testing whether surfacing recommendations between episodes helps members discover stories they will enjoy faster." The reasoning, Netflix's statement says, comes from its last controversial decision: to add auto-playing videos, complete with unmuteable audio, while browsing through Netflix content. Netflix offered one major rebuttal to at least one Reddit claim, pointing out that the ads for Netflix content are entirely skippable.
I remember.
I used to love watching American Movie Classics, back in the day. They’d show these great old movies, with no ads. Before the movie, Bob Dorian would give a couple-minute introduction telling us some little-known story about the plot or the movie production... I loved those days...
#DeleteChrome
If actually skippable, I guess I am OK with it
I'm not.
As a paying customer looking to relax, I don't want to be interrupted by someone trying to sell me something. First time I experience it, I will write a complaint to their customer service (which I did when HBO tried similar shenanigans). If they keep at it for a month, I will cancel my subscription.
The truth may be out there, but lies are inside your head
Exactly. You appear to be enjoying episodes of this show back-to-back. How about stopping in the middle to watch *random unrelated crap*?
When one streaming service goes downhill you can bet another will show up to steal its crown. I recently subbed to Stan (australia), and I've been deciding which to keep. This sort of thing makes it easier to choose.
As for Netflix content, they already show giant thumbnails for their own shows in between most of the browse lists. Most don't interest me, and showing me a trailer in the midst of something that DOES interest me won't make me want to try 'em.
Hal Spacejock: Science Fiction with Nuts
>"but I can see why they want to do this as they have a lot of original content, and they have a point as to how people would find out about it otherwise.""
If their interface weren't so HORRIBLE, it would be easy to find and explore new things. Their stupid, massive collection of horizontal scrolling lists is completely non-functional; horribly show, endlessly frustrating, with irrelevant topics and groupings to me.
1) I want to know what is new TO ME. It still shows things as "new" even if I have known about it or even watched it several months ago.
2) I want to filter out things I have already seen
3) I want to have filtered searches
4) I want to know what is a film from what is a series
5) I want to be able to mark seasons as complete
6) I want to TURN OFF DAMN AUTOPLAY so when I fall asleep, I don't have to fight going back and "rewatching" things it thinks I watched
7) I want to be able to rate things with 1-5 stars so I know HOW MUCH I liked or disliked something
8) I don't want the screen to "dim" and "overlay" when I pause video to look at something
9) I want to turn on/off captioning with a single key while watching
10) I want to "subscribe" to series so I am immediately informed of new episodes
11) I want to optionally jump through lists a page at a time not just one miserably slow scrolling item at a time
12) I want an easy-to-read history list of what I have watched, with dates, ratings, etc
13) I want to be able to sort things by category, recommendation, type, last seen, ratings, etc
The list could go on and on. It is one of the worst user interfaces ever (especially after using TiVo forever). And if they introduce unskippable or "painfully" skippable "ads" of any type, I will immediately cancel my subscription, write them a scathing letter, and give them a bad word-of-mouth from that point forward.