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You know, there's been a whole lot of talk lately about the state of streaming TV
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with some people saying streaming is now worse than cable. I don't know about that, but there are five ways that streaming TV is changing for the worse
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Let's get into it. Number one is advertising. And when I asked my YouTube community about their biggest frustration with streaming TV
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a lot of people said the same thing, the ads. Trust me, I get it
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Some of you started streaming in the first place just to get away from ads
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Now, nearly every major streaming service has a plan with advertising. And that includes Netflix, which launched ads in 2022
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But to be fair, I'm always trying to. Netflix and others still offer ad-free plans
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So if there's a plan with ads and a plan without ads, why are people so frustrated about the advertising
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Isn't more choice a good thing? Well, it's more complicated than that because the people I hear from
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aren't just upset over the ads. They're also frustrated about the pricing of the ad-free plans, which just keep going up
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And unfortunately, I don't see this slowing down anytime soon. Ads are just too good for business
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During investor calls, I've noticed that the streaming executives are quick to point out the success of the plans with advertising
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In some cases, ad-supported plans deliver a higher ARPU, average revenue per user
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So if a user downgrades from Netflix's standard plan to the standard plan with advertising
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advertising, it's actually not a downgrade for Netflix. Netflix makes more money from that
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standard plan with ads. And because of these dynamics, we're seeing more frequent and more severe
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price increases for those plans that do not have advertising. But fortunately, at least for now
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ad-free options still exist. Having worked in the TV industry for a decade myself
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streaming TVs march toward advertising really hasn't come as a surprise to me. In fact, it's been
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quite predictable. Legacy media companies like Disney, NBC Universal, Paramount, and Warner Brothers
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Discovery, well, they've always been heavily reliant on advertising. Combined, these companies
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own dozens of broadcast in cable TV networks, and what are these networks all have in common
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You guessed it, lots and lots of ads. But as people have cut the cable TV cord and switch to
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streaming, legacy media companies have created new places to sell all their ads. And that's
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where services like Disney Plus, Peacock, Paramount Plus, and Max come into play
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Ads on streaming services are definitely getting worse. That's a fact. But I struggle when
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people say that it getting worse than broadcast or cable TV Sure we got ads in more places like on my remote for these streaming services and another ad when I turn it on the TV and access the home screen
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and of course, the ads within the content. But have you actually watched a show on broadcast or cable TV lately
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This is an episode of Friends that I watched on Max's Ad Supported Plan
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the length of the episode, 22 minutes long, standard for a broadcast TV show that airs in a 30
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minute time slot. But when I streamed this episode from Max, there weren't eight minutes of advertising
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like on broadcast or cable TV, two minutes of ads for the entire show. That's it. I've tested the
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ad-supported plans for both Max and Netflix. They've got about four minutes of ads per hour
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sometimes less. So that's not just half the ads of regular TV, it's a quarter of the ads
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Prime Video recently introduced ads. Subscribers can expect up to three and a half minutes of ads per hour
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And for my testing, Hulu and Paramount Plus are some of the more frustrating services to watch
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Expect about 8 to 10 minutes of ads per hour. In some cases, it's been a little bit more
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So over the next year, what I'm watching is to see whether there's an increase in the ad load
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for the services that have fewer ads. So right now, that would be prime video, Macs, and Netflix
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And when it comes to advertising on your home screen, like this ad here on Roku
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I've read reports that more ads are on the way. Personally, I'm able to tune ads like these out
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but do they bother you? Let me know down below in the comments. Let's keep it moving, and number two today is password crackdowns
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Netflix put an end to password sharing starting in May 2023, and it worked really well for them
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The service was immediately rewarded with millions of new paid subscribers, and many of those new subs will they signed up for that plan with ads
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the one that's more profitable for Netflix. Now other services like Hulu and Macs, well, they're following Netflix's lead
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and they've got their own password sharing bands in the works. So far today, we've talked about more ads, limits on sharing
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and now there's number three, the 4K surcharge. I'm going to use YouTube TV for this example
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The live TV service, basically Cable 2.0, offers only limited content and 4K picture quality across the networks that it carries
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Now, you might assume that would be included in the $73-month base plan
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It's not. No, you need the 4k plus add-on for that. $5 a month for the first year, $10 a month after that
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YouTube TV is not alone though Streaming services like Netflix and Macs are also making us pay more for 4K picture quality something that a whole lot of streamers feel should be standard in 2024 Number four today is content and I not here to say that content on the streaming platforms is worse than cable TV
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because I don't believe that. There's a lot of great content to stream
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You really only need a few seconds of scrolling through the live guide for a service with cable channels to see how bad that's gotten
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These days, many cable networks offer very little content that is new and original
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One of my favorite things about streaming is that you can watch that great content on your own schedule
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So back in the 90s, if you weren't home Thursdays at 8 o'clock to watch Friends
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you might have to wait for a rerun. Streaming solved that issue, making shows and movies available on demand
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But that doesn't mean there haven't been growing pains. There have, and those growing pains have made me nostalgic for the way that it used to be
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I've got three issues I'm going to talk about in this section. First, finding shows has gotten just too complicated
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And this is the result of having just way too many streaming services
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There, I said it, too many services. I'll stick with friends as the example
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When this show originally aired and someone asked you about the latest episode, you probably wouldn't respond, what network is it on
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Everyone knew it was on NBC, so you could just talk about the show and what happened
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But those days, they're over. Now, when someone asked me about a show, I'm lucky if I've heard of it
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know where I can watch it, and actually subscribe to the service that is
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it's on. The second issue with content is that it could be pretty hard to find out when new episodes
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or new seasons are actually going to drop. Netflix is known for its binge release strategy
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but some of its competitors now release new episodes on a weekly basis. That's really not a
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problem for me. I've gotten used to it both ways by now, but it can be frustrating to finish
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watching a season of episodes and not know when the next season will premiere, or even if that
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show that ended on a cliffhanger is coming back at all. It's just very unpredictable compared to the
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TV that we're used to when shows would premiere in the fall and wrap in the spring. Now, you really
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have to track your favorite shows and do research to keep up with when they're coming back
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And third, shorter seasons. When you look at older shows like friends, they typically had a couple
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dozen episodes per season. But now, you're lucky if you get 10 episodes in a season. Don't get me
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wrong, I appreciate the high quality of the shows on streaming platforms, and I do think the
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quality of the shows is still very good. But if subscribers are left waiting a year or even more
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for new episodes, you can see how only eight or 10 episodes may leave some people feeling
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a little bit let down This video wouldn be complete without a section dedicated entirely to price And believe it or not I hear from people all the time who say streaming is now more expensive than cable And I guess that possible if you got a live TV streaming service like YouTube TV
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and you also subscribe to all the major streaming services. But most people I know don't subscribe to all these plans in a single month
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and the trend has actually been cutting back on services. So far, the sharpest price increases have affected people who pay for the cable 2.0 services
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the ones like YouTube TV. It launched at $35 a month, now the price has more than doubled
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YouTube TV and its competitors are in the business of offering broadcast and cable TV networks
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more than 100 in YouTube TV's base plan. But the subscription price has largely gone up because of sports
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YouTube TV is a pay TV bundle, just like cable and just like satellite
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The difference is it's delivered over the internet. And these bundles are all about the illusion of
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value. Of those 100 networks in the base plan, the overwhelming majority of your bill is going to
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local stations and sports networks. There's an upcoming sports streaming service that proves this
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point. Slated to launch in the fall, the service will include the ESBM Plus streaming service
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as well as these 14 linear networks that carry sports. No official price at recording time
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but it's expected to cost $40 to $50 a month. That's a steep price for 14 networks, and compare that
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to the live TV streaming service friendly TV. It offers more than 40 networks, less than $10 a month
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The difference is no sports and no locals, friendly TV focuses on entertainment
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So you can really see where your money is going with the pay TV bundle. It's going to sports
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And one thing that I've noticed, the on-demand services, they're now starting to include more sports and live events in their plans
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The best example of this is probably prime video adding NFL's Thursday night football
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And in a recent video, I told you that Prime Video has now won the rights to an exclusive NFL wildcard playoff game next season
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So that's similar to what Peacock had this past season. So if this trend continues and more live sports and events leaves linear TV going to those on-demand streaming services
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well, that could lead to price increases for the on-demand services. And ultimately, subscribers are going to be paying for those sports rights, whether they watch that sports content or not
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For now, I'm doing what I can to save money, limiting my paid subscriptions, rotating them throughout the year, and taking advantage of the best deals as they happen
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Leave a comment below. Let me know what you think about everything I've covered in today's video and anything that I missed
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Thanks a lot for watching, and I'll see you next time
