• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, August 23, 2018

There has been recent speculation that Netflix is planning to introduce ads into its service. 

And my first reaction to that was, wait, the reason I pay $20 a month (roughly) is to avoid seeing any and all ads in the programming I watch on the platform. 

That has been the Netflix value proposition forever — get good programming, on demand, avoid ads, but pay for the privilege. 

And it has worked for me. So much so that Netflix is my No. 1 go-to for programming, followed by Amazon Prime Video. 

I can’t believe I’m saying this — but ads on Netflix might not be such a bad thing, if the ad model they implement also works for me. 

If the service inundates me with the kind of dreck advertising (mass quantities and totally irrelevant) that the major broadcast and cable networks do, I’ll cancel in a heartbeat. 

But Netflix has introduced promotional spots for some of their new shows that I like. My biggest gripe with the service is it has so much stuff that it’s hard sometimes to make a selection about what to watch. In many cases, my decisions are based on word-of-mouth recommendations from family or friends. 

Do I really want to see an ad — outside of promos for their new programming — on the service? No. But am I going to cancel if they introduce an ad or two — that I can I skip if I choose to — in between shows I opt to stream? 

Probably not. But if they opt for a model that forces me to watch ads, on top of the $20 I pay not to watch ads? 

Read any good books lately?