The latest streaming service to announce an introduction to advertising on its platform is the “Unturnoffable” Binge.
The Foxtel-owned service features some pretty major shows like, “Game of Thrones: House of the Dragon”, “The Walking Dead”, “Succession”, “Friends”, “Sex in the City”, the upcoming “The Last of Us” series and more is set to introduce an “Ad-Tier” subscription similar to that announced by Netflix in recent weeks.
The new model has long-term subscribers asking the question “is streaming going down the path of cable/satellite TV” that was initially introduced as an Ad-Free alternative to commercial television but it seems like some of these decisions will actually help with the rising costs of living by offering a cheaper alternative in a saturated and expensive entertainment market.
No details have been released yet on the actual cost or if there will be a limit on the quality of the stream but at the Foxtel Upfront event it was announced that ads will be capped at 4 minutes per hour and using Foxtel’s experience in integrating ads with content they are “being extremely careful about our offerings to ensure that we safeguard the watch-ability of Binge that our subscriber’s treasure”.
It’s also been noted that the sports equivalent of Binge also owned by Foxtel “Kayo” is also undergoing a transition to include advertising.
It’s starting to look like the future of streaming is no longer “ad-free”. However it will be up to individuals to decide to go for a more costly interruption-free tier, cancel the subscription or simply take advantage of a cheaper ad-included alternative which could be a good option in the economic climate, that way we can all still talk about Game of Thrones in the office the next day.
