Hell, I watched GI Joe, Transformers, and He-Man when I was a kid. That's basically 22 minutes of advertising with 8 minutes of breaks for more advertising.

> so basically they see virtually no ads

(Camera slowly pans to bottle of coca-cola)

And what do you think Netflix's ranking is if not advertising?

'movies we recommend based on other movies you've seen' and so on.

That really seems to be stretching 'advertising' beyond its definition to me. That seems like even less of 'advertising' than looking at a menu and trying to decide what to order, given that you've already paid for the service (for now, at least).

assuming he's like me (ad blockers, limited tv, etc), I have a Netflix account, and I don't even honestly know what 'Netflix ranking' is.

Assumimg it is something like Netflix's recommendation service, well, this might come back to an difference in philosophy: I don't need/want to be recommended shows to watch, and I don't use recommender/suggestions.

One does not have a need/desire to consume media as an abstract concept, so the idea that one has a problem of "I want to watch something but i don't know what" is a literal nonsensical statement/problem.

How do you decide what to watch?

How do you become aware of new shows you would be interested in?

For me this is one of the benefits of Netflix's recommendation service. While I feel like the quality of the recommendations has gone down over the years, it still has value. I tend to watch 1-2 shows at a time until I have watched the entirely of them. When I finish one I want to find another to watch, but don't always know what I want to watch next. So for me "I want to watch something but i don't know what" is the exact problem I have on a regular basis.

well, presumably the same method I use to figure out how to read books I haven't read yet, listen to music when I don't have a radio: organically or through picking some out from good reviews or subject matter sharing/experts.

An actual benefit to this in my eyes is that marketing and fads tend to have short attention spans, so if you're interested in quality as opposed to 'riding the social wave', most fads won't hold their quality/appeal after a few years.

And besides, we're so overwhelmed with media, the desire to 'get more' is about the definition of an anti- problem... we actually need to find ways to consume less...

But if you already pay for Neflix's service and this is just another part of it. Advertising is supposed to sell, or upsell a product, which isn't what the ranking system does.

Well if we're really stretching the logic, watching something is what signals Netflix Corporate to keep it on the service, thus you are _technically_ funding that specific piece of content.

They might not see explicit advertisements, but they're getting exposed to a metric assload of product placement.

Honest question and I don't have super strong opinions on the subject, but is product placement really that big of a negative? If I open someone's fridge, I don't see a bunch of stuff with the labels conveniently turned backwards or removed, I see Coca-Cola and Sunny-D and Hellman's Mayo and Heinz ketchup. If I walk through a college classroom I don't see a bunch of laptops with featureless lids, I see Apple logos and Dell logos and HP logos. If I'm driving down the road, I don't see a bunch of de-badged cars, I see Chevy logos and Ford logos and VW logos.

Is it really detracting from a movie to have a bottle of Pepsi sitting on the table at dinner while they're eating their Pizza Hut pizza? Isn't that how the real world actually exists?

Basically: aren't we all exposed to a metric assload of product placement all day anyway?

> Honest question and I don't have super strong opinions on the subject, but is product placement really that big of a negative?

If a product placement can't be justified on plot or characterization grounds, then I find it an obnoxious distraction and a sign of spinelessness on the part of the director and editors.

> If I'm driving down the road, I don't see a bunch of de-badged cars, I see Chevy logos and Ford logos and VW logos.

Do it really matter what kind of car James Bond drives? Not really. All that matters is that it's something only rich pigs can afford and was customized by Q with all kinds of non-standard and outrageously illegal features, like artfully concealed machine guns.

> Basically: aren't we all exposed to a metric assload of product placement all day anyway?

If I want reality, I know where to find it. If I go to the movies, it's to get a reprieve from reality. I'm paying good money for the convenience of a ready-made waking dream, and the presence of gratuitous product placement cheapens the fantasy.

If product placement doesn't bother you, that's fine. It annoys the fuck out of me, so I prefer to read novels or play video games when I want to relax.

(Besides, the prevalence of CG makes most mass-market movies nothing but defective video games anyway. Who needs MCU when you can watch a let's play of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Libertines?)