Any Max subscribers here?

[Mark]

So, the other half and I have been subscribed to Max for years, back when there was one membership tier, no ads, and it was still called HBOMax.

They’ve raised the price since, and considering we only watch it for maybe an hour a night, I opted to stay in the same tier after the transition to Max. Granted, it’s just about a $5 difference for ad free, but that’s not why I’m bitching. I’m bitching because the ads are overtaking the content. For example, a 22 minute episode of South Park had 3 ads at 30s a piece before the opening credits, and then proceeded to insert either two 30s ads or one 60s ad at every would-be commercial break on Comedy Central. Okay, so we’re back to cable bullshit, right?

Wrong. Last night, she wanted to watch House of the Dragon. The first two episodes had this cool little thing where if you sit through two 60s ads, the remainder of the show is ad-free. Keep in mind… when cable and satellite was the big thing, you paid a monthly subscription for HBO, and it was ad-free because it was a premium channel. Riiight? Well, last night, we got the same intro that featured a long ad from BMW, and credited them for the remainder of the show being ad-free. Cool. Just like the last few episodes. BZZZT. Wrong. Not even 15 minutes into the show, which isn’t far past the ridiculously long intro for that show for the unaware, guess what? A fucking ad. Not even 15 minutes later… another.

So, I figure, fuck it, it’s a one-off. Probably some bug in the app, or some caching error from me pausing it to go smoke a bowl. Nope. We turn on Max tonight for some mindless entertainment… a 30min episode series on crimes that went viral. What’s the first thing we’re faced with? A single three minute long ad that mentioned ad-free viewing afterwards. Was this true? Hell. No. Immediately following the opening intro, another 45s ad… and another… and another. All together, we counted 11 minutes and 30 seconds worth of ads for a show with a 28 minute runtime.

Now, I’m not an advertising expert, but I’m pretty sure that at that rate… they’re generating more revenue from the ads they push versus the additional $5 for the ad-free subscription.

Am I crazy? Or are they bumping up the ads to push subscribers to opt-in for the ad-free subscription? It’s $5… but I’m refusing on principle at this point.

 

[BlackAvatar400]

So, the other half and I have been subscribed to Max for years, back when there was one membership tier, no ads, and it was still called HBOMax.

They’ve raised the price since, and considering we only watch it for maybe an hour a night, I opted to stay in the same tier after the transition to Max. Granted, it’s just about a $5 difference for ad free, but that’s not why I’m bitching. I’m bitching because the ads are overtaking the content. For example, a 22 minute episode of South Park had 3 ads at 30s a piece before the opening credits, and then proceeded to insert either two 30s ads or one 60s ad at every would-be commercial break on Comedy Central. Okay, so we’re back to cable bullshit, right?

Wrong. Last night, she wanted to watch House of the Dragon. The first two episodes had this cool little thing where if you sit through two 60s ads, the remainder of the show is ad-free. Keep in mind… when cable and satellite was the big thing, you paid a monthly subscription for HBO, and it was ad-free because it was a premium channel. Riiight? Well, last night, we got the same intro that featured a long ad from BMW, and credited them for the remainder of the show being ad-free. Cool. Just like the last few episodes. BZZZT. Wrong. Not even 15 minutes into the show, which isn’t far past the ridiculously long intro for that show for the unaware, guess what? A fucking ad. Not even 15 minutes later… another.

So, I figure, fuck it, it’s a one-off. Probably some bug in the app, or some caching error from me pausing it to go smoke a bowl. Nope. We turn on Max tonight for some mindless entertainment… a 30min episode series on crimes that went viral. What’s the first thing we’re faced with? A single three minute long ad that mentioned ad-free viewing afterwards. Was this true? Hell. No. Immediately following the opening intro, another 45s ad… and another… and another. All together, we counted 11 minutes and 30 seconds worth of ads for a show with a 28 minute runtime.

Now, I’m not an advertising expert, but I’m pretty sure that at that rate… they’re generating more revenue from the ads they push versus the additional $5 for the ad-free subscription.

Am I crazy? Or are they bumping up the ads to push subscribers to opt-in for the ad-free subscription? It’s $5… but I’m refusing on principle at this point.

Me too man. I feel like they just rip us off with false advertising just to get us to pay more for something they don't originally intend to change or fix for whatever offers they give. People and businesses nowadays are just trying to get money outcha (out of you). I hate commercials and ads either way, especially when an episode is good and you're at a pivotal part or moment of the episode RIGHT when it's at the climax of what's about to happen next, and then...BOOM! SHIT! There's a frigging ad lol I like Max, but I guess I'm more into Paramount Plus right, and the ads on there are either as bad as Max does it or WORSE...

 

[Ben]

I can't really speak to Max, but while watching Fallout on Prime I had the same thought while getting ads every arbitrary period... Isn't that why I fucking pay for Prime in the first place, to get around all your bullshit? But I need to go "ad-free" still anyway?

It's all a bunch of money-grabbing crap. I remember when Amazon Prime meant you'd actually get shit the next day. Now there seems to be literally no benefit to it, and/or their core service now is so abysmally fucking horrible that they've dropped the "good" benefit to fill the "mediocre" slot.

Capitalism is a pile of trash sometimes.

 

[Mark]

I can't really speak to Max, but while watching Fallout on Prime I had the same thought while getting ads every arbitrary period... Isn't that why I fucking pay for Prime in the first place, to get around all your bullshit? But I need to go "ad-free" still anyway?

It's all a bunch of money-grabbing crap. I remember when Amazon Prime meant you'd actually get shit the next day. Now there seems to be literally no benefit to it, and/or their core service now is so abysmally fucking horrible that they've dropped the "good" benefit to fill the "mediocre" slot.

Capitalism is a pile of trash sometimes.

Speaking of Prime… I don’t use the service myself, but our roommates do, and I pay him to have my cigarette tubes delivered on the “subscribe and save” feature. We recently discovered that the price varies from month to month, sometimes costing more than if I would just walk into the tobacco store and buy the stuff myself. Uh… how is that “saving” anything?

 

[Ben]

Speaking of Prime… I don’t use the service myself, but our roommates do, and I pay him to have my cigarette tubes delivered on the “subscribe and save” feature. We recently discovered that the price varies from month to month, sometimes costing more than if I would just walk into the tobacco store and buy the stuff myself. Uh… how is that “saving” anything?

Probably cheaper than what the already extortionate prices are, but you're not getting it from a regular vendor. Amazon is basically eBay without the bidding at this point, barely anything is sold by the direct companies and everything comes from a reseller who's likely to jack up the cost to some degree.

I've honestly been considering cancelling Prime for awhile 'cause I just don't use it enough to warrant paying for Bezos' fiftieth yacht.

 

[Fool's Requiem]

I have ATT fiber, and supposedly I get it for free, but I don't use it. I probably should just so I can watch John Oliver.

 

[Mark]

Probably cheaper than what the already extortionate prices are, but you're not getting it from a regular vendor. Amazon is basically eBay without the bidding at this point, barely anything is sold by the direct companies and everything comes from a reseller who's likely to jack up the cost to some degree.

I've honestly been considering cancelling Prime for awhile 'cause I just don't use it enough to warrant paying for Bezos' fiftieth yacht.

That’s what we noticed, Amazon used five or six different vendors across the country and each had a different price. It’d be nice if they just used a median price for that subscription model they use.

I have ATT fiber, and supposedly I get it for free, but I don't use it. I probably should just so I can watch John Oliver.

Compared to some of the other streaming platforms I’ve used, the quality of the catalog is definitely there. My number one beef was always app support across platforms… they had a lot of bugs that they couldn’t iron out for the longest time, but since the transition to Max, it has improved dramatically. My assumption was that they just dissolved the team and put them on developing the Max app instead. However, the bullshit with those ads has gotten wild over the last couple months.

 

[Quagmire]

I havent seen ads, but I watch these on my computer and I have adblockers

 

[Mark]

I havent seen ads, but I watch these on my computer and I have adblockers

Try it on your phone or another device without a blocker, you’ll lose your mind in no time.

 

[Quagmire]

Try it on your phone or another device without a blocker, you’ll lose your mind in no time.

I have adblocker on my phone too! Though it may not block them on app

I tried to use a regular youtube app once (I have Revanced which blocks ads) and it was horrific

We havent seen them on Max on our roku, but its been a bit since we watched anything on there. I am shocked anytime we watch hulu though and Im like oh yeah, there are ads

 

[Mark]

I have adblocker on my phone too! Though it may not block them on app

I tried to use a regular youtube app once (I have Revanced which blocks ads) and it was horrific

We havent seen them on Max on our roku, but its been a bit since we watched anything on there. I am shocked anytime we watch hulu though and Im like oh yeah, there are ads

I actually ended up reaching out to Max support because it got so ridiculous that we were making it through not even 5 minutes of an episode of South Park after the two ads before the intro before we ended up getting another ad. I’ll preface by saying the only expectation I had was, at best, a bill credit, but I tried to gain some insight on their ad algorithms… Max support states that in an hour of video, their system is set to display “up to 4 minutes” of advertising. That is patently false, I calculated double that in a 22 minute episode, and the best Max offered me was a “3 day VIP trial” which was essentially 3 days of the “with ads” tier with all networks unlocked. I got my answer, though… they’re full of shit.

 

[Quagmire]

I actually ended up reaching out to Max support because it got so ridiculous that we were making it through not even 5 minutes of an episode of South Park after the two ads before the intro before we ended up getting another ad. I’ll preface by saying the only expectation I had was, at best, a bill credit, but I tried to gain some insight on their ad algorithms… Max support states that in an hour of video, their system is set to display “up to 4 minutes” of advertising. That is patently false, I calculated double that in a 22 minute episode, and the best Max offered me was a “3 day VIP trial” which was essentially 3 days of the “with ads” tier with all networks unlocked. I got my answer, though… they’re full of shit.

The Discovery take over of HBO has been a disaster

 

[Mark]

The Discovery take over of HBO has been a disaster

I can’t blame Discovery specifically, it’s the monopolization of television in general all over again. It’s cable television 3.0. We saw satellite directly compete with cable as an alternative to the inundation of advertisers on cable, and that was overrun with ads. Oddly enough, South Park covered it perfectly.

 

[Jon]

Am I crazy? Or are they bumping up the ads to push subscribers to opt-in for the ad-free subscription? It’s $5… but I’m refusing on principle at this point.

It's 100% this.

Subscriptions for ALL streaming services has been plummeting for years. This is a way to generate one of two things...

Either more monthly money to remove ads, or additional income for running ads. It's win win for them, lose lose for the consumer.

The reason most of us left cable is from price gouging and ads. They've brought it to streaming. Add to that the increased costs for wifi and it's MORE expensive to have streaming than fucking cable now.