It’s not even surprising anymore platforms do this & act all Pikachu face why piracy is spiking
Netflix & all these streaming platforms have completely lost touch & they will lose more customers in the long run
To quote Gabe Newell on Piracy
“We think there is a fundamental misconception about piracy. Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem. If a pirate offers a product anywhere in the world, 24 x 7, purchasable from the convenience of your personal computer, and the legal provider says the product is region-locked, will come to your country 3 months after the US release, and can only be purchased at a brick and mortar store, then the pirate’s service is more valuable.”
Mass market subscription services won’t offer ad-free precisely because of the mass market exposure available to advertisers. You need to look to niche services instead, where a critical proportion of subscribers (say 30%) won’t tolerate ads as opposed to 1%. Maintaining an ad-free option in such a case is basic business sense. Not only that, you’ll find the ads-on tiers are more respectful of people’s attention and intellect when it comes to ad content and presentation.