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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.
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.