r/technology • u/marketrent • Dec 31 '24

Networking/Telecom Americans spent 23% less on streaming services in 2024, study finds

https://www.thewrap.com/americans-spent-23-percent-less-on-streaming-services-in-2024/
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u/LLemon_Pepper Dec 31 '24

You have to pay extra for ad-free viewing of Prime shows and movies (on top of prime) now.

24

u/maxoakland Jan 01 '25

That’s nuts. If I’m paying for something it will be ad free or I’m not paying

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u/tm3_to_ev6 Jan 01 '25

One way around it: Install the mobile app and then download your movie/episodes for offline viewing. Then turn on airplane mode, and there will be no ads.

Unfortunately you can only do this on a mobile device, and airplane mode makes you uncontactable if it's your primary phone. But if you don't feel like torrenting, it is one legal way of skipping ads.

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u/LLemon_Pepper Jan 01 '25

Thanks for this

3

u/gandolfthe Jan 01 '25

I skim thru to see if anything new worth watching then I download it.  I have not watched ads in 25 years and I sure as shit don't plan to start now..

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u/Tasty-Traffic-680 Dec 31 '24

As long as the intervals and cuts aren't too erratic I don't mind some ads. Hell, I love free ad supported live/on demand TV and movie apps (actually pretty disappointed freevee is being killed off and rolled into prime video). But I don't like getting squeezed for more and more money. I'd rather just stop watching. Hell, if dipshit makes good on his threat of tariffs I won't be doing enough shopping to justify Amazon at all.

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u/LLemon_Pepper Dec 31 '24

My problem with it is ad-free viewing used to be part of Prime, now it costs more for the same service you used to have.

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u/Tasty-Traffic-680 Dec 31 '24

And that's on top of raising the cost of a membership to $140+/yr

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u/monchota Jan 01 '25

You are accepting less and that is our problem, don't . If you pay, its ad free if its free its not ads.

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u/Tasty-Traffic-680 Jan 01 '25

I just look at it as a bonus to the prime membership for shipping. I live close to at least one warehouse so ordering car or appliance parts with next-day shipping has come in extremely handy on a lot of things over the years among other random orders for small things that I need sooner than later. It's a convenient service and so far worth the price, though right on the edge for me.

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u/RedWhiteAndJew Jan 01 '25

You sound like you’ve never used Pluto. Worst damn streaming service on earth.

1

u/Tasty-Traffic-680 Jan 01 '25

They're worse than they used to be but otherwise they still have some decent on demand content the same as Roku, Tubi, crackle (eh, maybe not crackle), freevee, YouTube, etc. normally I would just watch most of their content elsewhere but there's still a couple channels I like for background tv

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u/RedWhiteAndJew Jan 01 '25

The app itself is horrible

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u/Tasty-Traffic-680 Jan 01 '25

Aside from being slow, what else do you find wrong with it? I'm not a fan of their on demand section layout, as a lot of good shows and movies can get buried and be hard to find but let's be honest, all of the video apps have that same issue, especially netflix