In a few months, dear Netflix and Disney+ subscribers, you’ll see an ad.
Despite raking in billions each year from their 351 million subscribers, these two big distributors can no longer keep up with demand. So they decided to fill their coffers by selling advertising messages on their basic service. If you subscribe to one or the other of these services in order to watch movies and series without commercial interruptions, you may now have to opt out to avoid being affected by them. Unless you pay more, of course.
Not content with ripping off traditional TV viewers, now Netflix founder Reed Hastings wants to make it bloodless by ditching Google, Twitter, Facebook and the ads the company hasn’t yet plundered.
Netflix dealt a major blow to television by agreeing to pay already astronomical production costs beyond the reach of public or private television networks. Cont crown, for example, costs US$13 million per episode, which is two to three times what we paid when we started. Produced by CBC Annie with E Thanks to Netflix’s deep pockets. Subsequently, CBC management admitted that the series had significantly increased the cost of regular production in Toronto.
How many messages?
Right now, without taxes, Netflix’s basic service costs $9.99 per month. It gives right to one screen in normal broadcast. For the right to broadcast in high definition and on four screens, the subscription is $16.49. $20.99 for premium service including Ultra HD.
On Disney+, pricing is simple: $11.99 per month or $119.99 per year. Although the ad appeared early next year, there is no indication that Netflix will drastically lower the price of a subscription to the basic service.
For now, Disney+ has committed to inserting more than four minutes of ads per hour, but Netflix has yet to announce anything. Advertising is like the price of subscription, unfortunately we increase it little by little without losing more viewers and without increasing the quality of service. Let’s remember the good old days when our TV networks only had a few minutes of commercials per hour and no commercials on Télé-Québec or on Radio-Canada newscasts!
Reed Hastings Fulmins
Netflix, which has been accepting the worst-hit subscribers since the start of the year, wants to tighten its controls and reduce the number of people illegally watching the service using the passwords of friends or neighbors. Reed Hastings has gained more than eight million Disney+ subscribers, while he has lost one million.
Streaming video isn’t just gaining popularity, but consumers are starting to realize that the proliferation of services is hurting their wallets. How many monthly subscriptions are we willing to pay for services that keep increasing in price without improving quality? The list of movies and series offered by Netflix in Quebec is far less impressive than that available to Americans or Brits, not to mention the repertoire is updated at a snail’s pace.
Adding promotional messages is not guaranteed to attract new subscribers.
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