Hacker News Reader

Comment by riddley | Hacker News Reader

The article doesn't mention that they just added ads to Prime Video with the justification of spending more money on developing content.

View on HN

The ads were supposed to start at the end of January, but yesterday I was watching a PBS Masterpiece show in 2 parts, and when it went from part 1 to part 2, it showed an ad for a sporting event on Prime. I could pause the ad but couldn't skip it & had to sit through the whole thing.

As a Prime member, I usually just buy whatever I need when I need it. But now, I think I will leave things in my cart until I get to the free shipping threshold, just to see how often I actually need free Prime shipping. Then I can figure out if it's worth it to keep Prime just for the shipping benefit, because the ads are going to keep me away from Prime Video.

When have big corporations NOT talked out of both sides of their mouths, though?

When they talk out of their butts which is frequently mistaken for both sides of their mouths.

Companies only have a single mouth but essentially infinite assholes.

Interestingly prime video had technically always had ads. An ad for other prime video content always plays before the start of anything

Yeah but those aren't reeeeeeaaally ads they're just "promotions" (according to the Amazon lawyers).

Content (even the garbage that most of it is) is expensive, don't expect more, quality content, they're just making you pay for more of the existing costs.

Only shareholders matter, public only matters when it significantly impacts revenue or shareholders.

Sadly, I keep Prime for the free shipping, the video was a nice ad-on, so I can only be so upset, but it does reduce value of the membership. I still find it offensive to pay to watch ads, I don't care if that was the cable model for years, we finally got away from it and I don't want to go back, no more than I want to go back to listening to the radio or buying whole albums to consume music.

I'm getting closer to investing in a nicer media center setup and buying/ripping content I own. Especially since, I've gone Gen Z and find most of my evening viewing to be on various YT channels. If I'm going to spend 22 minutes to watch mindless, low production value, mildly amusing drivel, I'd rather it be by an individual content creator than another semi-reality competition show which seems to be most of what's on streaming platforms these days. I'll watch the odd series/show but I find myself getting bored and not finishing them.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com