Streaming subscribers may differ on which series is the best ever but can all agree on one thing: Ad repetition makes the viewing experience tedious. Not only do they interrupt your shows, but platforms often show the same few advertisements ad nauseam. And some platforms play the exact same ad several repeatedly during one commercial break (looking at you, Father of Triplets ad on Pluto TV).
Netflix is rumored to be reimagining its ad strategy and may stray away from Microsoft tech-based advertisements to create its own innovations, as reported by Gizmodo. Currently, there is no set limit on how many times an ad plans for a specific user, and even companies running ads are not enthused with this tactic. Several companies agree with users that repetitive ads are awful and furthermore, diminish the effectiveness of those campaigns.
“We worked hard to be brilliant at the basics, focusing on areas advertisers told us matter most – like geo, age, and gender targeting, third party verification, and deploying the right brand suitability mechanisms for [advertisters] to make the best decisions for [their] brand,” said Jeremi Gorman President of WorldWide Advertising.
Netflix launched an ad-supported plan late last year costing only $6.99 per month and five million people worldwide have already signed up for this tier. A growing number of new members are choosing this plan over Netflix’s ad-free tier.
“While we’re focusing on reaching parity, we’re also innovating. We treat our ads with the same care we treat our incredible content, serving them locally, seamlessly transitioning between shows and ads with no latency, and implementing industry-leading frequency caps with an ad load of four to five minutes per hour,” said Jeremi Gorman.
Netflix is working towards “super-serving our audience,” said Bela Barjaria, Chief Content Officer. The streaming platform is working with advertisers and sponsors to create more tailor-fit advertisements that better align with audiences watching a title. Although this is still just in the discussion phase, Netflix aims to make ads less likely to repeat themselves as well.
If this comes to fruition, Netflix could see a jump in subscriber numbers. For years, other streaming platforms have frustrated customers with redundant ad placements and many could make a permanent switch to a less obnoxious ad-supported service.