What's your preference: Deal with ads or pay monthly for a service?

G

Guestx

Guest
I'm mostly talking about media here. Video services and podcasts, specifically.

For instance, Netflix. . . Would you rather pay $9.99 a month for Netflix and get it ad-free, or would you rather it be free but you'd have to deal with the same amount of advertising that is used on regular TV?

Or take HBO's new service, HBO NOW. It's $15/mo. Would you rather pay $15 and get it ad-free or would you rather get access to all that content at no charge, but you'd have to deal with ads?

Or lastly, take a podcast you enjoy. Most podcasts are, for the most part, ad-free or very light on ads. Let's say your favorite podcasts announced they would need to either start charging or incorporate regular ads. What's your preference?

Etc. Etc.
 
I'll pay if its something I use a lot. I'm not poor though.
 
As for me, I'm starting to learn toward ads just because there are SO MANY goddamn services now. Netflix, SlingTV, HBO Now, all the podcasts I listen to. . .

If you're just doing one or two, it's not that bad, but the shit really adds up over time. Fucking nickel and dimed. It's just not practical to have $5, $10, $15 a month going out for 10+ services.
 
I'll pay. I hate ads that much. I'm not a poor freeloader like most of you loser in here.
 
I like to pay for Hulu and still get the adds.
 
I dont care enough either way. With or without, it really makes such a slight difference to me, that it could go either way. I have Hulu without ads, but that is what my girl wanted, so...
 
shadow_priest_x said:
Yeah, that's one reason I simply refuse to use Hulu. You're going to charge me and STILL run ads? Fuck you.
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Slightly OT, but WTF is with ads at the beginning of movie trailers online now? They think we don't know trailers are also ads?
 
I'll pay $9.99. It's not that much and you get no commercials.
 
PRIDEWASBETTER said:
At worst, it's $120/year. That's not bad if you use it regularly.
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So basically paying for cable all over again?

That's the thing, I already think that traditional cable/satellite packages are WAY too expensive as it is. By moving away from that model, the hope and intention is to reduce costs. If you're going to be paying the same amount anyway, what's the point?

My goal is to keep ALL of my entertainment costs at $50/mo or below, while still getting access to most everything you would expect to get from traditional cable.
 
My wife watches Korean dramas on a site called viki
I've been paying 4bucks a month for a few years now, would happily pay 10bucks, 20bucks/mo even. No ads and HD.

I think some forget, lets say you watch something, then you go, oh i missed it!, lemme rewind.

WTF! it rewinds me to an ad!

RAGE!
RAGE!

I was paying monthly for HULU as well, feeling like an asshole, HOWEVER, it was the only way to get HULU on tablets (my wife was traveling at the time), still w/ ads, HULU is the worse offender.

I also pay for amazon prime and forget i get movies and music.
 
shadow_priest_x said:
So basically paying for cable all over again?

That's the thing, I already think that traditional cable/satellite packages are WAY too expensive as it is. By moving away from that model, the hope and intention is to reduce costs. If you're going to be paying the same amount anyway, what's the point?

My goal is to keep ALL of my entertainment costs at $50/mo or below, while still getting access to most everything you would expect to get from traditional cable.
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What? Some cable packages are that much per month. Keep in mind I said per year. It's not even close to the same price.
 
PRIDEWASBETTER said:
What? Some cable packages are that much per month. Keep in mind I said per year. It's not even close to the same price.
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Oh, my bad. I thought you said per month.

Well that's only if you are, say, ONLY paying for Netflix. But for many, Netflix just isn't enough.

Let's say, for instance, you want Netflix for all the content it offers. Well that's $9.99. Then, well, you want your traditional cable programming, so you add $19.99 for a SlingTV subscription. But then, fuck, you just LOVE Game of Thrones and want to be able to watch it when it first airs in glorious HD, so you add HBO Now for another $14.99. And goddamn it, you need Showtime for all their programming, and that's another $9.99. And you're a fight fan, so you need FightPass, and that's yet another $9.99. Etc.

Granted, some people aren't entertainment junkies, or they're willing to endure low-quality streams that aren't always reliable, or they're willing to wait for torrents to show up, etc. But if that's not you, then the costs add up fast.
 
shadow_priest_x said:
Oh, my bad. I thought you said per month.

Well that's only if you are, say, ONLY paying for Netflix. But for many, Netflix just isn't enough.

Let's say, for instance, you want Netflix for all the content it offers. Well that's $9.99. Then, well, you want your traditional cable programming, so you add $19.99 for a SlingTV subscription. But then, fuck, you just LOVE Game of Thrones and want to be able to watch it when it first airs in glorious HD, so you add HBO Now for another $14.99. And goddamn it, you need Showtime for all their programming, and that's another $9.99. And you're a fight fan, so you need FightPass, and that's yet another $9.99. Etc.

Granted, some people aren't entertainment junkies, or they're willing to endure low-quality streams that aren't always reliable, or they're willing to wait for torrents to show up, etc. But if that's not you, then the costs add up fast.
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All valid points. I currently pay for Netflix and WWE Network. Both, I use a lot. Given that you can cancel any subscription at any time, you can pick and choose which ones you want to use and which ones you know you'll use most often. You can hedge your costs any way you see fit.
 
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