Netflix, once a pioneer of ad-free viewing that offered a break from traditional TV norms, is now contemplating launching free ad-supported versions of its service in markets like Europe and Asia, Bloomberg reported.

The plans to offer a free ad-supported tier, albeit in select markets, suggests that pivot towards monetizing user data, in other words — making users and not the extensive library of award-winning shows a product, might be well in the pipeline.

  • MajorHavoc@programming.dev
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    4 months ago

    I’ll take “Organizations that made it to the top by doing something different, only to fall under leadership that doesn’t understand what made them successful and descend into ruins” for 200, Alex.

    Seriously, Jeopardy team - this is a rich category:

    • Netflix advertisements.
    • Zoom mandates staff return to offices.
    • Microsoft forgets what the “P” in “PC” stands for.
    • Toys R Us implements a shitty holiday gift returns policy.
    • Sears decides to sacrifice reputation for quarterly stock price gains.
    • Walgreens decides bottom-of-the-barrel incompetent pharmacists can uphold their “get it all done in one visit” secret sauce.
    • Radio Shack decides that once-every-two-years cellphone contract sales are the future for holding passionate electronics hobbyists’ loyalty.
    • conciselyverbose@sh.itjust.works
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      4 months ago

      Netflix can’t do what got them to the top.

      Fuck everything about the changes they’ve made for the last several years, but they were always going to hit a wall when content owners put their content on their own platforms.

      • MajorHavoc@programming.dev
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        4 months ago

        Netflix can’t do what got them to the top.

        They can’t grow that way but they could easily hold on and remain profitable, popular and successful.

        They were well on their way to enjoying “Kleenex” or “Oreo” stable market success, but their leadership and shareholders apparently aren’t satisfied with winning.

        • conciselyverbose@sh.itjust.works
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          4 months ago

          The entire source of their growth was “you can get almost anything you want to watch for one low monthly cost”. They no longer have rights to any of that content, and for most of it didn’t even get an opportunity to make a bid.

          It’s the equivalent of Oreo shipping 3 Oreos in a big box for 3x the price. But also they had to change their recipe because they didn’t own the old one.