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by smeyer 1348 days ago
Can the answer not just be to charge more for the ad-free tier? The gap between what I'm willing to pay for a streaming service with and without ads is a lot more than what the current going rate is.
3 comments

The problem is that if you increase the price too much, the bad PR and hit to your reputation will likely offset any extra revenue. If a service like Hulu released a $50/mo ad-free tier people would freak out, even if they still had access to the same free ad-tier experience they do now. I don't know that it'd be beneficial.
This is boiling the frog though? These services were sold to us as something without ads. Seems really mob-like for the services to say to me: pay more or we're going to start showing ads on the thing we sold to you with the promise you wouldn't have any ads.

Rinse and repeat another year later.

I don't think that's particularly a problem. Just because Netflix or Hulu offered one service when I first used them a decade ago doesn't mean they're obliged to provide the same service at the same price forever. I occasionally cancel a streaming service if I decide that it's no longer providing enough value to me, just like I'd cancel my current subscriptions if they started adding ads.
Because raising prices doesn't necessarily increase revenue.