Netflix subscribers need not worry about annoying ads, according to CEO Reed Hastings.
“No advertising coming onto Netflix. Period,” Hastings said in a Facebook post on Monday. “Just adding relevant cool trailers for other Netflix content you are likely to love.”
The post came after reports surfaced that Netflix has begun experimenting with ads before shows, but they are not ads in the traditional sense.
A number of Netflix subscribers have reported seeing what they described as advertisements before their content began playing. However, the ads were for Netflix original shows, not outside companies, much like premium cable channels like HBO and Showtime already do.
In a statement to TheWrap, Netflix said:
“We are not planning to test or implement third-party advertising on the Netflix service. For some time, we’ve teased Netflix originals with short trailers after a member finishes watching a show. Some members in a limited test now are seeing teases before a show begins. We test hundreds of potential improvements to the service every year. Many never extend beyond that.”
Nevertheless, members have taken to social media to vow that if ads ever do infiltrate the streaming service, that will spell the end of their relationship with it.
Read some of their comments below.
.@netflix canceling my subscription.. This is nuts. Next they’ll be putting unskippable ads in the middle of their BluRays.
— Michael Englehorn (@K0HAX) June 2, 2015
@TimThePaige @deafgeoff @netflix depends on how the ads are done. If it’s like @YouTube I’m out.
— Jeremy Romance (@JeremyRomance) June 2, 2015
@netflix I was going to sign up for your service, but since you are to have ads in your service soon, I am going in a different direction.
— Rickbob Zoidbob (@Zoidbob) June 2, 2015
Wtf….ads on netflix?
— skule (@EjectionHoNk) June 2, 2015