Ads Advice: If I’ve already paid, I won’t tolerate ads

Most people don’t like ads. There are people who don’t mind if they are unavoidable, but I shudder to think that there really is someone enjoy ads.

However, ads are a necessary evil. They help fund products and services that wouldn’t otherwise exist without them – with android authority be a good example. Without funds from advertising, large swaths of the internet simply wouldn’t exist, not to mention television shows, movies, and even hardware like certain smartphones.

We already know what our readers think about some of these developments (most don’t like them at all). I’m there with them, but I go a step further than most. Simply put, if I’m paying for a product, I’d better not see any ad. If I do that, that company will immediately lose my business.

I understand the need for ads but still hate them

I fully realize the irony of discussing my hate for ads on android authority, a (free) site with lots of advertisements on it. As I mentioned before, I understand how ads keep the lights on for various businesses, many of which offer an invaluable service or product. It has not escaped my notice that ads, quite literally, pay my salary.

However, this doesn’t make me like ads. if android authority could survive without them, I would be overjoyed to see the site in an ad-free state. I would also love to be able to drive my car on the highway without seeing billboards, watch a movie without intrusive product postings, or take a walk around town without someone pushing a pamphlet in my face.

I hate ads so much that I have no problem paying to make them disappear. I pay almost $20 a month to remove ads from YouTube. That’s $240 a year just to watch uninterrupted Red Letter Media videos. I also paid for probably two dozen smartphone apps to use them ad-free, including 1Weather, SMS Backup & Restore, My fitness friend, and much more. I never watch network TV, listen to the radio, or use a streaming service that relies solely on advertising to function, regardless of the content available.

However, sometimes that is not enough. Sometimes companies still push ads, even to paying customers, and that makes me angry.

Our guide: How to Block Ads on Android

Once I’ve paid, there better be no ads. Ever.

YouTube Premium allows me to watch all of YouTube in an ad-free state. I’m not getting any pre-roll or mid-roll ad videos and there are no banner ads anywhere. I don’t even have to go through sponsored posts on videos (although, to be honest, I usually stop watching a video when they do appear). It’s a great exchange where I give YouTube money and it eliminates ads completely.

Unfortunately, this is not always how it goes. Xiaomi, for example, sells smartphones with ads baked into the Android operating system. Likewise, the aforementioned Glance lock screen ads is rolling out to more phones around the world. Even though you’ve already paid for the phone, you may still have to wade through ads every time you unlock your phone to use it. There were even times when Samsung pushed ads on some of its most expensive phones, even though it promised it wouldn’t do that anymore.

Related: Is it really a good idea to sell your privacy for a cheaper phone?

Roku Streamers also display advertisements. In reality, Roku makes more money from ads than in hardware sales. There is also no way to disable ads on Android TV devices. You can go ahead and try to remove ads from your Amazon Echo Show as well, but you will be left blank.

It’s infuriating that companies think this is okay. They won’t let you stop them either. You can’t opt ​​out of seeing ads and in many cases you won’t have the option to pay to have them stop. If I’m paying for a smartphone, streamer, or other hardware, it should be up to me to use and operate it the way I want. The way I see it, if the inevitable ads pop up on something I’ve bought, I don’t actually own that product.

I understand that ads help keep those products affordable, and that’s a good thing. But why can’t I choose to make them disappear?

Ads herald affordability, but I should have a choice

Amazon sells its Kindle e-readers in two varieties: those with “Special Offers” and those without. The offers are just ads that mainly appear on the lock screen. To get rid of them, you pay an additional $20. You can decide to do this at any time. In other words, if you buy a Kindle with special offers, you don’t have to return it for another one to remove the ads. You pay Amazon, and boom, the ads are gone.

I am a big proponent of this. It helps keep Kindles affordable for just about everyone, while providing the ability to remove ads for those who want it. This is how it should be for anything that uses an ad-supported model.

Get one: The Best Amazon Kindle E-Readers You Can Buy

hulu is another good example. You can pay $6.99 each month for Hulu’s programming with ad breaks or $12.99 for the exact same programming, but without ads. This is great because it makes Hulu accessible to those budget conscious, while still offering an ad-free option to those who would rather spend the extra money.

Smartphones, streamers and everything else should work the same way. If I buy a cheap smartphone that is full of ads, I should be able to choose at any time to spend a little extra to get rid of them. This keeps the phone hardware accessible to those who need it while still being a viable choice for those who love the phone but hate ads. It also ensures that people who are on a tight budget these days can choose to remove ads if they have some extra spending money later on.

Unfortunately, this is usually not the case. Roku’s situation makes it perfectly clear why. The company makes tons of money from advertising, so why cut its own profits?

However, that’s exactly the point: these ads make the product worse. I’m not the only one switching from companies trying to throw ads at me from all sides. While it can make a lot of money in the short term, ads will never build brand loyalty and they are certainly not an investment to attract new customers.

Ads are not an innovation

When it became known that Netflix would be rolling out an ad-supported tier, it was clear why. The news came along with the revelation that the company was losing subscribers for the first time in 10 years. The stock took a big hit and suddenly there was an ad-supported layer on the table.

Think about that for a moment. Netflix faced a subscriber drop and it immediately jumped to ad pull. It didn’t say, “Hmmm, maybe we should make our product better,” or “Let’s work on ways to attract new consumers.” No. Ads.

As I’ve made clear, if Netflix continues to price the same for tiers with no ads, I wouldn’t mind offering an ad-supported tier as well. But that’s unlikely. Even if it starts the new layer without changing the current one, Netflix isn’t afraid to raise pricesso it would probably do so soon after.

It is very disappointing that companies think that placing advertisements on their financial problems is a good business decision. In most other ways, companies would probably agree that making your product objectively worse for the user is a bad move. But for whatever reason, ads don’t seem to count in that regard.

I can only hope that companies in all domains, but especially smartphone manufacturers, realize that advertising is not a one-stop solution. Even if ads are used, there should be easy ways for users to disable them. After all, no one has ever fallen in love with a brand because of all the awesome ads it sends them.

In the meantime, I will just continue to do what I did and only support the companies that give me power over my own products. The only way to win this war is to vote with your wallet.