Amazon to Run Ads in Prime Video Shows and Movies (www.wsj.com)
from brihuang95@sopuli.xyz to technology@lemmy.ml on 22 Sep 2023 15:00
https://sopuli.xyz/post/3789507

Oh boy, more enshittification

#technology

threaded - newest

IzzyData@lemmy.ml on 22 Sep 2023 15:04 next collapse

This is a disturbing trend. Apparently a lot of these major streaming services are discovering that they can make more from ads than people paying for the service. At least when calculated with the subscriber counts they currently have. It seems they don’t anticipate people leaving their services over this.

Personally there is no way I would ever pay for a service that has ads. I’m not going to pay for a service even if its paid service doesn’t have ads if it has a free or cheaper service with ads as that would just be rewarding them for implementing ads.

For example with Amazon’s plan here. If you pay this $3.00 to remove ads then you are paying Amazon $3.00 because they added ads. This only increases the amount of ads that will be added to things.

queermunist@lemmy.ml on 22 Sep 2023 15:16 next collapse

For example with Amazon’s plan here. If you pay this $3.00 to remove ads then you are paying Amazon $3.00 because they added ads.

That’s just a stealth price increase that they can implement without admitting they’re raising prices.

IzzyData@lemmy.ml on 22 Sep 2023 15:19 collapse

I think it is a little different. They might even want you to not pay for it if you are a prolific user of Prime Videos.

joenforcer@midwest.social on 22 Sep 2023 20:08 collapse

It’s exactly this. Netflix makes more money from the average basic+ads user than they do from someone on the standard plan. It’s incremental revenue from all users that even occasionally use the service, and invisible to those that pay for Prime but don’t care about Prime Video.

If you pay directly for Prime Video only, it’s a little different.

[deleted] on 22 Sep 2023 15:26 next collapse

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PrincessLeiasCat@sh.itjust.works on 22 Sep 2023 17:27 collapse

It’s so frustrating. I pay for YT Premium bc that’s probably what I watch the most of…on my main TV in the living room.

The “sponsored” videos have the content creator do multiple commercial spots in their own videos and it’s so annoying. I don’t mind if they advertise their own stuff, like merch, but it’s everything from cereal to VPN’s to mental health apps. Irritating af.

Very_Bad_Janet@kbin.social on 22 Sep 2023 17:55 collapse

Newpipe + Sponsorblock.

PrincessLeiasCat@sh.itjust.works on 22 Sep 2023 18:01 collapse

Thanks! Will it work on AppleTV?

riceandbeans161@discuss.tchncs.de on 22 Sep 2023 18:07 collapse

I, too, would like to know this

(spoiler alert: nothings gonna work:( )

Very_Bad_Janet@kbin.social on 22 Sep 2023 18:22 collapse

I'm not sure about this (I use NP on an Android phone) but the clever folks on the Divided by Zero instance on Lemmy should be able to get you sorted.

Spzi@lemm.ee on 22 Sep 2023 18:13 next collapse

Personally there is no way I would ever pay for a service that has ads.

Somehow we got used to it when it comes to sports events, a long time ago.

But yeah, I get you, and fully agree. Seeing no ads is like the major selling point.

mindbleach@sh.itjust.works on 22 Sep 2023 20:18 collapse

Apparently a lot of these major streaming services are discovering that they can make more from ads than people paying for the service.

Nah. They’re discovering they can make people pay and shove ads in their face.

Which is worse.

ohto@lemmy.sdf.org on 22 Sep 2023 15:12 next collapse

I’ve been a Prime member from the very beginning, but I’m seriously reevaluating whether I should drop it. The value proposition is decreasing for me. At $99 I thought it was pretty good considering the perks like video and music. But then they crippled Prime Music a few months back so it’s a shadow of what it once was (pushing you to subscribe to Unlimited). Now Prime Video is getting ads. Those “extras” are becoming less compelling. So I’m paying $140 annually for just free shipping? Hmmm, these numbers don’t add up anymore.

NOT_RICK@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2023 15:24 next collapse

You’re getting it for 140? I think I pay 180. Seeing the service continually get worse and worse has me close to canceling too.

sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works on 22 Sep 2023 16:10 collapse

Just do it. For $140, you could buy like 10-15 DVDs and rip them onto a USB drive or something.

I also highly recommend your local library (if you’re in an area with good library service), we get lots of shows and movies there for free.

natedog526@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2023 15:56 next collapse

If they are gonna run ads, I may drop it and just stick with their ad streaming service freevee if they gonna do that.

nonearther@lemmy.ml on 22 Sep 2023 15:58 next collapse

Great news is that Amazon has also added delivery fee for same day and overnight deliveries for Prime members. At least in UK

So basically it’s too much payment for not much of benefits

pete@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2023 17:10 collapse

Additionally, ordering from other sites was a gamble a few years ago. Now its a well mapped path and its pretty painless.

sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works on 22 Sep 2023 16:09 next collapse

I cancelled last year. Slower shipping is annoying, but it also encourages me to shop elsewhere, which is nice. I haven’t missed Prime Video, and I’m considering cancelling other streaming subscriptions as well (Disney+ and Netflix left, and both raised prices for my ad-free tier).

At current prices, I could probably just buy physical media for nearly everything I care about and come out ahead.

saltnotsugar@lemm.ee on 22 Sep 2023 18:02 collapse

Amazon typically hasn’t been two business days consistently for years for me. I also found out many of their prices are massively inflated for certain products. A lawn mower I was considering was at least 30% more expensive than the same one on a competing website.

sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works on 22 Sep 2023 18:09 next collapse

They’ve been pretty consistent for me, sometimes faster, probably because I live a few miles from one of their warehouses. But you’re absolutely right about prices, I’ve found Target to be competitive or cheaper if they have it, and their delivery is just as fast as Prime.

XbSuper@lemmy.world on 23 Sep 2023 00:35 collapse

Amazon pricing seems heavily weighted on whether you shopped around online or not. I think they have tracking cookies that check whether or not your comparing prices. If you do, they keep their prices reasonable, if not, they slowly jack them up until you start, then they back off a bit.

saltnotsugar@lemm.ee on 23 Sep 2023 01:57 collapse

See that’s the wacky thing for the mower specifically. Not only do I shop with a browser that has all cookies disabled, I must have checked on the price for the mower ten times over many months along with some alternatives and even other websites. I think they inflate the price if it’s a 3rd party vendor selling on Amazon sometimes.

DTFpanda@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2023 16:29 next collapse

You still get free shipping as a non member if you buy like $25 worth of shit. And you might get it in 3 days instead of 1 (the horror)

But yeah, that’s about all you’re getting and no it’s not worth it.

thessnake03@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2023 16:32 collapse

They just recently upped free shipping to $35 in stuff

DTFpanda@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2023 16:47 collapse

I figured it might have changed considering the last time I ordered something from there was about 6 months ago

Blackmist@feddit.uk on 23 Sep 2023 00:56 collapse

Their change to Music already made me go and get Spotify instead.

Shoving ads in Video as well makes that shit an easy cancel.

ekZepp@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2023 15:12 next collapse

<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/8eff244e-bc4c-4b54-9c64-8c651c0d11a9.jpeg">

Sharpiemarker@feddit.de on 22 Sep 2023 15:27 collapse

Yar! 🏴‍☠️

NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2023 15:19 next collapse

Ahoy Matey!

LongbottomLeaf@lemmy.nz on 22 Sep 2023 15:28 next collapse

Three cheers for ProtonVPN! Make Amazon walk the plank!

DrMario@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2023 15:45 next collapse

Stree… me… oh…

DoucheBagMcSwag@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 22 Sep 2023 17:09 collapse

Veee—-peee—-innnn

swiffswaffplop@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2023 16:19 next collapse

As someone who hasn’t sailed the 7 seas since PB and BitTorrent days. Is there a good guide on how to best utilize this now a days?

I literally pay for every single streaming service + YouTube tv and it’s ridiculous. Time to cut the cables again.

WeLoveCastingSpellz@lemmy.fmhy.net on 22 Sep 2023 17:54 next collapse

Stremio + torentio or downloading your movies + jellyfin

Entropywins@kbin.social on 22 Sep 2023 18:04 next collapse

PB and bittorent will always be there for you... use a vpn though

LongbottomLeaf@lemmy.nz on 22 Sep 2023 19:44 collapse

!piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com

lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/10901

A good starting place. Hope this helps.

riceandbeans161@discuss.tchncs.de on 22 Sep 2023 18:02 next collapse

Someone else who uses ProtonVPN! Don’t see too many users out in the wild. I love it!

thirteene@lemmy.world on 23 Sep 2023 03:46 collapse

ProtonVPN was killswitching on me 3x a day and NordVPN are criminals (read their ToS it’s 2 pages of fuck you we took your money) after you discover they built in a leak feature. PIA is capped at 10mbps. Is there any other decent option out there?

Nutteman@lemmy.world on 23 Sep 2023 19:49 collapse

Mullvad, hunny

ste_@lemmy.ml on 22 Sep 2023 17:43 next collapse

<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.ml/pictrs/image/bfa87497-710d-414c-ac54-9a4a2c732353.jpeg">

errer@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2023 19:06 collapse

Or: the library

keefshape@lemmy.ca on 22 Sep 2023 20:45 collapse

Cover your bases, wear an eye patch to the library. 😉

MisterMcBolt@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2023 15:41 next collapse

“Must… make… exponential… profit… Line must go up!”

LinkOpensChest_wav@lemmy.one on 22 Sep 2023 15:54 next collapse

Looks like I canceled Prime right on time. Literally just did it after having it for years because it no longer provides any meaningful benefit, and it’s grossly overpriced for what it is.

When I used to get two-day shipping all the way here in bumfuck, South Dakota, then it was worth it, but it’s faster now just to order from some other site.

ApathyTree@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 22 Sep 2023 17:33 collapse

Fun fact - if you order a bunch of stuff non-prime, the ship time will be like a week and a half or whatever. If you then upgrade to prime (even the free trial), the delivery estimate suddenly recalculates and it’ll be there in 2 days.

It’s artificially slowed, by obscene amounts, to encourage paying for the subscription. Which other sites don’t do.

LinkOpensChest_wav@lemmy.one on 22 Sep 2023 17:40 next collapse

I haven’t received anything in 2 days since early 2020, and what finally made me cancel is they took forever to even ship one of my items that was in stock. I ordered two things, one was shipped by the seller and arrived in 3 or 4 days, the other was from the same seller but shipped by Amazon, and they didn’t even initiate shipping until a week later.

I was paying for a service that’s objectively worse than the norm.

circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org on 22 Sep 2023 19:49 collapse

I think it depends on where you live. I’ve been without Prime a while and haven’t seen the artificial slowdown. It always says it’ll take 9 days or something when I order, but most often I get a shipping update the next day and things show up in 2-3 days anyway.

[deleted] on 22 Sep 2023 17:15 next collapse

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Poppa_Mo@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2023 19:21 next collapse

Time to cancel Prime. Removing perks. Increasing prices. Saturating us with ads.

Too much money is never enough! We need to monetize monetization! Assholes.

Imagine if any of these rich assholes were actually good guys?

circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org on 22 Sep 2023 19:44 next collapse

I canceled mine a year or two ago. Tbh I have not missed it much.

I also did not miss the shipping part as much as I thought I would. If I need to make an order, I wait until I have enough needs to hit the $35 level for free shipping. Even though amazon claims otherwise, I usually end up getting stuff in 2 days just like I used to with Prime.

This has the added benefit of making it less likely for me to be lazy and order a bunch of smaller things. I thus end up getting those things locally.

CalcProgrammer1@lemmy.ml on 22 Sep 2023 19:44 next collapse

I would pay for Amazon Prime if they offered purely a free 2-day shipping only version, but I refuse to pay for Prime if it supports the media companies, so I don’t pay for Prime. I have zero interest in DRM-filled “you will own nothing and be happy” streaming bullshit, and I have negative interest in the same thing with ads. Enshittification at its finest.

Shepy@feddit.uk on 22 Sep 2023 20:03 next collapse

Ad free is the only way for a service im paying anything for. If they introduce ads then i will no longer be paying.

Oneobi@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2023 20:34 next collapse

The minute something injects ads is the minute I pave my exit strategy.

I hate ads with a passion.

Amazon about to lose my membership. It won’t hurt them but what it’s done is made me consider whether it’s something I want to support.

Companies need a new era of marketing because this generation reversing all their gains.

chiliedogg@lemmy.world on 23 Sep 2023 02:13 collapse

And if they don’t offer a paid ad-free service, I just won’t use it at all.

I hate ads, and I’m not giving one fucking second to them voluntarily.

markr@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2023 20:06 next collapse

Enshittification has just gotten started.

SARGEx117@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2023 22:37 next collapse

I get my prime half off.

The added cost is less than the difference so I’d still be paying less than a regular prime membership.

And even still, I’m canceling the second I get an ad.

Fuck your monetization.

SlowNoPoPo@lemm.ee on 22 Sep 2023 22:39 next collapse

I’ve been on the fence with prime for a while, this will be the end

mara@pawb.social on 22 Sep 2023 22:54 next collapse

Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum for me!

ronondex@lemmy.sdf.org on 22 Sep 2023 23:22 next collapse

This is exactly why I pay for a seedbox and a usenet provider. I get an .mkv with no ad.

interolivary@beehaw.org on 22 Sep 2023 23:29 next collapse

The real news (har har) is that USENET is still around, damn. Probably been 20 years since I last touched it

ilikekeyboards@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2023 23:30 collapse

Do you use subs?

Mr_Buscemi@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 22 Sep 2023 23:55 next collapse

Does this affect the channels you subscribe too through Amazon prime as well? Fucking hope not lol

Happenchance@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2023 23:57 next collapse

Amazon Prime shows begin to be pirated by Amazon Prime Subscribers, until the end of the billing ear when they are no longer Prime Subscribers.

auf@lemmy.ml on 23 Sep 2023 00:08 next collapse

Ads EVERYWHERE! It’s time for us to make ad-less web rebellion.

NathanielThomas@lemmy.world on 23 Sep 2023 06:11 collapse

Or, overthrow capitalism.

Whichever works easiest

inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world on 23 Sep 2023 00:24 next collapse

Streaming was nice while it lasted but these companies have survived looking enough too become the villains they sought to replace. Sad but fuck them and hoist the sails I say.

jlarex@beehaw.org on 23 Sep 2023 00:40 next collapse

Nope, fuck this. Been thinking about canceling Prime for a while now, they just keep raising the price while at the same time all their services get worse year after year.

Blackmist@feddit.uk on 23 Sep 2023 00:54 next collapse

Well that’s getting fucking cancelled then. The constant FreeVee ad supported shit was annoying enough, but they can properly fuck off now. Prime is just a vehicle to sell you more shit.

uberkalden@lemmy.world on 23 Sep 2023 01:10 next collapse

Guys. This is literally just a price increase for prime video. It sucks, but it is not the same as “prime getting ads”. Not saying it’s worth keeping, but you are yelling like your only option is to watch ads or cancel

NathanielThomas@lemmy.world on 23 Sep 2023 06:10 collapse

How many more billions does Bezfuck need though.

Prime is the last streaming service I pay for after Netflix and Crave and the rest got greedy.

But go ahead and test me, amazon. I know the URL to pirate bay