Netflix is testing unskippable 'promos' between show episodes (Updated)

[Someone8MyPosts]

"A couple of years ago, we introduced video previews to the TV experience, because we saw that it significantly cut the time members spend browsing and helped them find something they would enjoy watching even faster."

Which is absolute BS! I know no one that likes the stupid autoplay preview crap, including me. It's distracting when all you're trying to do is read the synopsis. It's also a problem for those with kids that don't need to see some accidental floatover on a video playing they shouldn't see. This is about as dumb as the SUPER LARGE cards of their original content, most of which sucks.

 

[Dimitrios]

First thing, this is no different than what Amazon is doing for their own content -- Prime Video is not only doing the same thing, it truly does not allow you to skip the "trailer".

Second, this is not anywhere near the same thing as "watching movies with ads". Network TV, non-premium cable TV channels, & non-Netflix/Amazon streaming movie channels (Crackle, Roku Channel, Hulu, Popcorn Flix, etc.) all show ads for other products: toothpaste, DVDs, vacation packages, 14-in-1 fryers, car insurance...the list goes on. What Netflix and Amazon are both doing is showing you a trailer for one of their original-content movies or shows....and they show it one time during your viewing experience (& in Netflix's case, you can hit the "skip trailer" button...just like you can usually hit the "skip intro" or "skip recap" on a TV series, very useful when you're binge-watching the 6th season of a show & already know what happened for the prior 50 episodes).

And let's face it: unless you're exclusively watching video-on-demand, or digital titles that you purchases through UltraViolet/Vudu/some other service, even premium cable channels have their "commercial" time in between their movies & specials, & you pay a lot more per month for those than Netflix & Amazon Prime combined.

Plus, I actually like the trailers. Sometimes it's nice to be presented with a potential new item for the queue without having to scroll through & scan the thousands of items available in the library.

I have to agree with you. I have to say at one point I was watching a mafia movie and it showed a trailer for PEAKY BLINDERS and I was thinking I always thought that was a stupid and corny name and didn't think it was a serious good mafia like movie. I ended up watching a few of their shows which NETFLIX makes. Some famous actors in it and it's based on the early 1920's mafia like group. Sadly it didn't stop me from dropping NETFLIX but I remember that NETFLIX made a point that most people never heard of other movies and series because there weren't any commercials or trailers.