Streaming Service Ads Are ‘Boring’ and ‘Unpersuasive,’

On November 3rd, Netflix launched an ad-supported payment option on their platform. Following suit, Disney+ celebrated their 3 year anniversary by doing the same. Together, the streaming giants seemingly rang the death knell for commercial-free viewing once and for all.

There's only one problem. While streaming has allowed TV quality to skyrocket in recent years, heralding a new golden age of television, the commercials haven't gotten any better. In fact, many are now worse.

Revolutionizing Ads

The Harris Poll and AdAge surveyed Americans to determine their sentiments toward advertisements on streaming services. The general consensus was the same: the ads they watched on streaming services are “boring, repetitive, and unpersuasive.”

According to Ashwin Navin, CEO of Samba TV, “It's going to be the most, new inventory for TV content ever introduced at one time. These companies collectively represent a massive amount of premium video that until now has been off the market [for advertisers]. It's a watershed moment.”

Netflix and Disney+ have the unique opportunity to help revolutionize the advertisement experience on their services.

Netflix has its “basic with ads“ tier, which costs just $6.99 monthly. With this plan, consumers have access to almost all of Netflix's library and would only have to deal with four to five minutes of ads per hour. A few titles are excluded because Netflix doesn't have the rights to stream certain content with ads.

Disney+'s version of ad-supported service is its “Disney+ Basic“ plan. This membership tier costs just $7.99, and consumers will still have full access to Disney+'s catalog. The current “Basic” plan will become “Disney+ Premium” and will increase in cost to $10.99 monthly.

AD Tolerance

Netflix has been losing subscribers steadily for the past year, prompting it to add an ad-supported membership tier. The lower price should help them gain new customers and retain current ones. 63% of Americans reported that cost is the most significant factor they consider when looking at streaming services to sign up for.

Americans have proven that they are willing to tolerate ads. After all, it wasn't that long ago that ad-supported broadcast and cable were the only options available. Only 28% of respondents said that having an ad-free service was a must for them to sign up. Just because Americans tolerate the ads, however, doesn't mean that they like them.

73% of respondents say that there are too many ads on streaming services, and another 70% said they're not even remotely interested in the advertised product(s). 81% complained they keep seeing the same ads repeatedly, making them lose interest even quicker.

And if Americans' sentiment wasn't already insulting enough, 55% say that the ads they see on streaming services are even more boring than the ones they would see on live TV. This figure is high with Gen Z and younger millennials (ages 18-29) and even higher among older millennials (ages 30-41), who are the most likely to use streaming services.

Out With The Old

Streamers have managed to use technology to improve the content they are sending out. 65% of Gen Z respondents said that algorithms had increased the amount of content they like to consume. The same is not true of the advertisements. On top of that, Netflix now has TikTok on its list of competitors to keep an eye on.

The only problem is, Netflix and Disney+ don't have any control over the people who are willing to pay to advertise on their platforms or the quality of that content, since it is all created by third party companies, hired by the advertisers.

But instead of trying to capitalize on what has worked in the past for broadcast – but may not anymore, based on the survey responses – it's time for the streamers to take control and help advertisers find new and innovative ways to reach viewers, based on how streaming works.

“Streamers should create new ways for advertisers to talk to their consumers. They need to create engaging ad opportunities, as opposed to just simple intrusive 15 and 30-second ads,” GroupM's Adam Gerber told the Wall Street Journal. “Streamers need to rethink the ad model.”

According to the survey, 51% of Americans say they would interact with an advertisement, whether it be scanning a QR code or taking a survey if they could watch the remainder of their program uninterrupted.

Hulu offers a similar advertising model, where they will ask viewers at the beginning of a program if they would prefer to watch a more extended “trailer” instead of regular ads and, in return, be able to watch the entirety of their show/movie ad-free.

49% of Americans said they still would not interact with the ad, even if it meant they could watch their program ad-free. However, there are significant discrepancies in age regarding the responses.

Gen Z and younger millennials (60%), older millennials (64%), and Gen Xers (54%) are the most likely to stream content and are the target audience for advertisers. All of these categories responded to the poll saying they liked the idea of interacting with one ad to watch their show/movie ad-free. A significant majority of Baby Boomers, on the other hand, opposed the idea (66% vs. 34%).

There was similar generational disagreement when respondents were asked whether or not they supported tailored ads that followed the same theme as the program they were watching. Gen Zers/younger millennials (66%) and older millennials (64%) support the idea of themed, tailored ads. Gen Xers aren't crazy about the idea, with only 48% liking it, and the majority of Baby Boomers are against it (73%).

Only one idea had cross-generational appeal. 77% of respondents agreed that they would much rather watch ads at the beginning of their show/movie than have their program constantly interrupted. This idea has been dubbed the “movie theater model.” 

This article was produced by Finance Quick Fix and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.

source https://wealthofgeeks.com/streaming-service-ads-are-boring/