Netflix built its streaming business on a subscription model that deliberately excluded advertising

Evidence

From the beginning of its streaming venture, the firm had taken the bold and seemingly foolhardy decision to forgo advertising altogether. It rejected the attention merchant model, despite the obvious revenue potential. There was, perhaps, something natural to that decision, given that its DVD service was not ad-driven but by subscription. Still, the call was not inevitable. When asked to explain the company’s aversion to advertising, Reed Hastings, Netflix’s CEO, described it as part of a strategy of putting the viewer “in control of the experience.” Therefore, he said, “It’s fundamental to that control orientation that we don’t cram advertisements down people’s throats.” — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 1097

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s broader Attention Merchants project on how the subscription model became an alternative to attention harvesting in the streaming era. — connects to: Commercial-free premium television reemerged as a refuge from chaotic advertisement-saturated media — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 1106

Broader Connections

• Commercial-free premium television reemerged as a refuge from chaotic advertisement-saturated media #corroborates (0.85) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 1106