Why Creators Don’t Want Ads on Streaming Platforms
By Movieguide® Contributor
As more streaming services incorporate ads into their content, creators are sharing their frustration with the update as they saw streaming as a way to escape commercials.
Amazon Prime Video began incorporating ads on its platform on Jan. 29.
Movieguide® reported:
Prime Video users will now get ads while watching TV shows and movies unless they pay an additional $2.99 per month on top of their Prime subscription. Though the platform promises to feature “meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers,” this new addition will lead to incredible profits for the company.
Filmmaker Lulu Wang expressed, “I’m very angry about [Amazon’s ad tier]. If I had known, I would’ve created in a different way because it’s not a show that has cliff-hangers or commercial breaks to make sure people come back.”
“We fought so hard to get rid of commercials. It was one of the biggest steps in bringing the worlds of TV and film closer together, in getting that higher level of artist to participate. It was such a seminal gain, and now it’s reversing,” added Alan Poul, executive producer and director of Max original TOKYO VICE.
“Losing commercials was one of the biggest steps in making TV more cinematic,” he added. “I’m happy to pay a couple extra bucks to not have them, but I know that’s not a luxury that is available to everybody.”
“Sometimes it upends the piece,” David E. Kelley said. “I thought NINE PERFECT STRANGERS with commercials was horrible. We sold it as a one-hour show, and it was served like a pie — but it was pudding. You can’t cut pudding into slices, and that’s exactly what was done.”
He added that, “Depending on the viewers’ subscription plan, they got, by his estimation, two different shows.”
Movieguide® recently reported:
Amazon Prime Video has let its subscribers stream ad-free content since its launch in 2006, but that will change in January.
“On January 29, commercials will be introduced to series and movies airing on the service in the U.S., UK, Germany and Canada,” Deadline reported, “That will be followed by France, Italy, Spain, Mexico, and Australia later in the year.”
Amazon believes that introducing “limited advertisements” will allow Prime to maintain and improve its streaming content for years to come.
These ads only apply to streaming, so purchased or rented content will not have ads. Clientele in Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Mariana Islands are excluded from the ad launch.
“Once frowned upon by streamers, a dual subscription-ad model — and the dual revenue stream that comes with it — has become the norm,” Deadline wrote. “With Amazon Prime adopting ads across its entire content portfolio on the heels of Netflix and Disney+ introducing ad tiers, Apple TV+ remains the only major streaming platform to employ a pure subscription model.”
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