If you think ads on streaming are bad now, it’s about to get so much worse ‣ Diverse Daily

Summary

Consumers flock ad-supported streaming plans after price hikes to lower costs.
Ad revenue is a significant income source for streamers such as Netflix.
Gaining viewers through free episodes boosts streaming success.

When it comes to the latest and greatest on streaming, we’re pretty passionate here at Pocket-lint. From the best movies to TV shows we can’t stop obsessing over, there is a lot of entertainment to love in the streaming era. However, it can be tough to stay up to date with your favorite media, especially with rising prices and a constantly-shifting constellation of apps and services to keep track of.

Enter “The Streaming Scene.”

This brand-new weekly column aims to give you a single place to read more about not only the latest and greatest content on streaming, but also keep you up to date on the latest discounts and deals to help you stream for less. This is the first edition, but look forward to this column every Thursday, and as part of our newly launched streaming newsletter on Fridays.

So without further ado, let’s talk streaming!

The Roku Ultra made my home smarter, the streaming was just a bonus

The Roku Ultra is an underrated smart home device.

Consumers flocking to cheaper ad-supported plans in the wake of price hikes

The plan to get streamers to watch more commercials seems to be working

It’s no secret that one of the big motivators behind the incessant streaming price hikes we’ve seen over the past few months was to get consumers so fed up with high prices that they moved down to ad-supported plans. And while you might be asking yourself why streamers would even want consumers to pay less for their product in the first place, the truth is, they don’t.

This move actually turns paying subscribers from customers into the product being sold.

When consumers watch ads, streaming services get paid by advertisers. And that money has been increasing exponentially in recent months. Just a few weeks ago, Netflix reported that its revenue rose 16% to $10.2 billion in 2024, largely thanks to ad revenue growth, which doubled over the previous year. So even though Netflix might like it if you paid $25 a month to stream Bridgerton, Stranger Things, and Cobra Kai, if you opt for the $8 per month ad-plan, and watch for just a few hours a week, you’ll likely be making Netflix a lot more money in the long run than those paying more than triple for the highest tier of the service. And with Netflix spending more money on content than ever, they’re undoubtedly banking on your eyeballs, bringing them as many dollars as possible.

And of course, Netflix isn’t the only streamer to raise prices while offering more attractive ad-supported tiers. Max, Disney+, Paramount+ and Peacock all offer ad-supported tiers that have been surging in popularity. In fact, The Streamable reports that 55% percent of new streaming subscriptions purchased last year were ad-based tiers, a jump of 12% from the previous year. So even though ad-based streaming tiers may be universally hated, they’re also undeniably popular, which means streamers will invest even more in pushing as many people as they can to these tiers and showing every subscriber as many ads as they can.

The Streaming Scene: Disney+ enters its cancel era, plus Netflix spends $18 billion

Disney+ cancels an entire genre of projects, Netflix lays out its content spending strategy, plus Traitors comes to a thrilling end.

Disney+ copies Apple TV+ by releasing episodes of Andor for free before season 2

It’s actually a good strategy

Disney

Andor

Release Date: 2022 – 2024
Showrunner: Tony Gilroy
Writers: Tony Gilroy, Dan Gilroy, Beau Willimon, Stephen Schiff
Franchise(s): Star Wars

Severance season 2 has been absolutely dominating the TV conversation in recent weeks, and much of the viral success of this Apple TV+ hit could be due to a very smart strategy by Apple TV+ to release episodes of the first season of the show for free on The Roku Channel to get folks hooked (and hopefully turn them into subscribers) before the season 2 premiere. And now it looks like Disney+ may be opting to copy this strategy for one of their own prestige series, which also has a much-anticipated second season coming soon.

Though Star Wars series Andor was a modest hit when it was released in 2022, if you missed it, Disney has announced that the entire first season of Andor is now streaming on Hulu (even if you don’t have the Disney+ add-on), and if you don’t have either streamer Episodes 1-3 of Season 1 have been added to YouTube for free. This is a very smart move on Disney’s part, and I hope more streamers promote their shows with free episodes in the future, as it has seemingly worked wonders for Severance and will likely have a similar effect on Andor.

How to watch all the Star Wars movies and shows in order

Disney+ is expanding the Star Wars Universe. So it’s never a bad time to start a rewatch the entire series.

Daredevil: Born Again gets off to a promising start

It’s like the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen never left

Disney

Daredevil: Born Again

Release Date: March 4, 2025
Showrunner: Chris Ord

Charlie Cox
Matt Murdock / Daredevil
Vincent D’Onofrio
Wilson Fisk / Kingpin
Deborah Ann Woll
Karen Page
Elden Henson
Foggy Nelson

Plenty of people have a favorite Marvel character, but I’ve never been able to choose just one. Instead, I have a top three. In no particular order, those three have always been Spider-Man, Bucky Barnes, and Daredevil. I genuinely believe the Daredevil Netflix series was one of the best film comic adaptations of all time, and when news broke that Disney was reviving the series, I was excited to see the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen return, but also incredibly nervous that Disney might not know what to do with a character that, both on screen and on the page, hasn’t shied away from some very dark themes.

However, I have to say that I have been impressed with the initial run of episodes that have been released so far. The series feels very modern (2018, when the final Netflix season was released, might as well have been a lifetime ago), but thanks to some clever writing, this updated Matt Murdock still feels like the same character that TV fans fell in love with a decade ago.

With intense action sequences, thought-provoking dialogue, and a triumphant return to the courtroom, Daredevil feels fresh and relevant while maintaining that gritty ruthlessness that fans have grown to love. If you haven’t checked into this series yet, I highly recommend it, especially if you’re a comics fan. Though Marvel’s recent output has been uneven, to say the least, this is shaping up to be one sequel that actually gets the job done.