Amazon Prime, Netflix May Move to Ad-Supported Offerings, GfK Says

Commercial-free streaming services like Amazon and Netflix may need to incorporate advertising as content and production costs rise but subscribers already are paying at or close to what they feel the services are worth, market researcher GfK said in a news release Wednesday. Hulu already is ad supported. According to GfK, $10-$11 is the maximum most subscribers would pay monthly for Amazon Prime or Netflix, and cost was the most important attribute in choosing a streaming service. The firm said cost was cited by 75 percent of people surveyed, followed by availability of specific programs -- cited by 69 percent -- and availability of new movies, at 68 percent. Having original/exclusive content ranked ninth, cited by 47 percent of users of major streaming services, GfK said, saying the proportion of Amazon Prime and Netflix users citing original content as a reason for using the services is growing. David Tice, GfK senior vice president-Media and Entertainment team, said Hulu and other ad-supported services offer premium "ad-free" options, and Amazon Prime and Netflix "may need to introduce ‘ad-inclusive’ subscriptions to hold the line on monthly subscription costs for their price-sensitive customer segments.” Amazon and Netflix representatives didn't comment.