Recently, iQIYI App has been on Weibo hot search because basic members can't skip the 120-second ad at the beginning of the video, which has once again aroused users' attention to video platform advertising, many users say that the membership fee of the video platform is rising year by year, but there are more and more advertisements, and all kinds of advertisements are interspersed with unguardable.
The reporter found that although most video platforms can skip video pre-roll ads after recharging members, even if they recharge the highest-level members, they still can't avoid 60-second ads after the opening song and various in-film ads and barrage ads......
Some platforms divide sports channels separately, and users who buy video VIP members cannot skip the 95-second roll ads of sports channels, and if they want to skip them, they have to buy sports channel members.
In addition, some users reported that the supervision of advertisements on video platforms is not strict, and vulgar, vulgar, and thrilling content frequently appears in advertisements.
The membership fee is increased layer by layer, coupled with various paid screenings and straight endings, and the "nesting doll" style charges of the video platform not only increase the cost that users need to pay for watching dramas, but also wear out users' trust and patience in the platform.
Avoid the opening roll ads, and you can't avoid the ads after the opening creditsMr. Meng is a visually impaired person and an old user of Youku Video App, and in the past three years, he has recharged Youku's annual membership intermittently and many times, mainly because he has taken a fancy to the function of VIP membership's "advertising privileges".
"In February this year, I saw that there was a joint recharge activity with Youku Video on Alipay, and I spent 98 yuan to renew Youku's annual fee VIP, and there were almost no ads after recharging members before, but now there are more and more ads, and there are dozens of seconds of ads after each TV series opening song." Mr. Meng said.
In addition, the frequent pop-up advertisements on Youku's video page also hindered Mr. Meng's normal use, "I usually use screen-reading software, and the software will read the information on the screen through voice, including graphics, icons, etc., but every time I open Youku video, pop-up ads will pop up, interrupting the screen reading, which has a great impact on the barrier-free experience of the visually impaired."
Avoiding ads is one of the purposes for many users to buy memberships, but the reporter tested multiple video playback platforms and found that there are many types of members, even if they buy the highest level of membership, they still can't avoid all kinds of ads.
For example, Tencent Video's current hit TV series "Sauvignon Blanc 2" can skip the 120-second opening roll ad after recharging as a SVIP member. But even if you have a SVIP member, after the opening song of the TV series ends, there will still be a 60-second advertisement, a total of 7 items, including milk powder, batteries, cosmetics, etc.
Tencent Video SVIP members will still have 60-second pre-roll ads
In the middle of the TV series episodes, there will also be a 38-second commercial. A 10-second ad will also appear after the episode ends and before the ending song begins. Therefore, a TV series of more than 40 minutes appeared before and after 108 seconds of commercials, and there were as many as a dozen advertisements.
On platforms such as iQiyi, Mango TV, Youku Video, etc., you can skip patch ads after purchasing members, but after the end of the opening song of the TV series, there will also be 15 seconds-35 seconds of ads, there is no way to close or skip with one click, users can only skip through the progress bar, and if you are not careful, you will skip part of the feature film plot. When an ad appears on a mobile phone, if you accidentally touch the mobile screen, you will also be redirected to the shopping page of another platform.
The pop-up advertisements interspersed in TV series episodes have also annoyed users for a long time.
When the reporter watched the new drama "Forensic Qin Ming" in 2024 on Mango TV, he noticed that within 3 minutes of the start of the feature film, there were 3 pop-up advertisements on Weibo, scanning the code to dominate the screen, and drinking, which greatly affected the viewing experience. On social platforms, there are also many users who report that pop-up ads affect the viewing experience, and it can be seen from user screenshots that some pop-up ads can occupy one-third of the screen, and even block the protagonist and plot.
"In the past, if you don't recharge your membership, you just look at the pre-roll ads, but now that you have recharged your membership, there are more and more advertisements of various types, how can you make people watch TV well?" Some users said that the advertisements are getting longer and longer, and they are interspersed with watching dramas before, during and after, which greatly affects the experience.
The reporter noticed that iQiyi, Youku video, Mango TV and other platforms have launched "advertising privileges" for members, but click on "Description of rights and interests" to see, the so-called advertising privileges, only reduce the pre-roll advertising time of watching videos, and different types of advertising services will still be presented in the movie.
"Matryoshka" type charges"I'm already a platinum VIP member of iQiyi, and my child wants to watch the games in the sports column during the summer vacation, but I can't skip the 95-second patch ad at the beginning of the film, saying that I have to buy a sports membership to skip the ad." Recently, Ms. Wang, a user, said that her family has been buying iQiyi's platinum VIP membership for a long time, 30 yuan per month, but recently found out that platinum VIP members can't jump the ads of sports channels, and if you want to skip ads, you have to buy 9 yuan per month"Love Sports Membership".
iQIYI Platinum members cannot skip sports channel roll ads
The video platform has too many membership levels and "nesting doll" fees, which have been complained by many users. The reporter's investigation found that on the iQiyi platform, video members are divided into 4 levels, namely basic VIP, gold VIP, platinum VIP, and star diamond VIP, among which the basic VIP has no advertising privileges and cannot skip patch ads. Although the other three VIPs have advertising privileges, they are noted in the "Explanation of Benefits" that the "privileges" do not include sports video content. It's hard for users to tell if they don't tell carefully.
Tencent Video has also made a similar setup, selling video VIP and sports VIP separately, even if the user buys the highest level of SVIP membership, it still can't watch the live broadcast of the sports channel, and it also needs to spend another 25 yuan / month to buy sports VIP, or pay to watch it separately per game. If you want to watch F1, NFL and other events, you also need to upgrade from sports VIP to sports super SVIP.
In addition, even if users have purchased various memberships, the video platform has also launched restrictions such as "advance screening", "screening ceremony" and "straight ending" for popular TV series and movies, and users need to pay an additional fee if they want to unlock the latest plot, and they will be charged in layers.
In September 2023, the State Administration of Radio and Television joined forces with a number of units to carry out a two-month pilot project on the management of TV "nesting dolls" charges and complex operations, and achieved remarkable results. However, in the field of video platforms, "nesting dolls" fees have repeatedly caused controversy and complaints, but they have been repeatedly banned.
According to data from the Consumer Insurance, a consumer service protection platform under the China Electronic Chamber of Commerce, the number of complaints on video platforms continued to rise from 2021 to 2023, with a total of 11,942 complaints in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 98.34%. Since 2024, the number of complaints has continued to grow, and Consumer Insurance has received a total of 5,884 complaints from video platforms, involving a total of 19.27 million yuan.
Vulgar and thriller advertisements are frequentIn addition to various roll ads, pre-roll ads, in-film ads, end ads, and pop-up ads, the ads that are suspended during the TV series also make users very distressed. "Originally, I wanted to pause to see the details of the TV series, but as soon as I paused, it was an advertisement, and the TV series screen was zoomed to a corner." A user who did not want to be named.
The reporter saw through Tencent Video, iQiyi, Mango TV, Youku Video, that the above platforms will appear large or small advertisements when the movie is paused, and some dynamic ads will occupy the entire screen, zooming the original plot screen to a corner, and users can only manually close the ads before they can see the paused plot.
On social platforms, many people pointed out that the suspension of video app advertising not only affects the viewing experience, but also lacks supervision of advertising and vulgar advertising. Some parents said that when the family watched the TV "Sauvignon Blanc 2" through the cloud audio-visual Aurora (Tencent Video TV version), there would be indecent advertisements with words and postures every time they paused, and there was a certain amount of pornography-inducing behavior, "It just so happened that the child was playing next to me, and asked me why this aunt was kneeling here, it was too vulgar."
Vulgar advertisements appeared when Tencent Video was paused
Youku videos have also been accused of popping up ads that are inappropriate for children. Some users said that when using the mobile phone Youku Video App to play cartoons to children, vulgar ads popped up in the lower right corner of the video, and the children mistakenly clicked to the ad screen when they clicked to close the ads, causing the page to jump to another URL, popping up various dialogue ad boxes, and unable to exit, "as if poisoned".
When Youku video plays cartoons, vulgar advertisements pop up, and children jump to vulgar web pages after touching them by mistake
In addition, some users said that when they used the TV at home to watch a movie at night on Galaxy Kiwi (iQiyi TV version), they paused to go to the bathroom halfway, and when they paused, an ad for the full-screen movie "Ghost Wife" suddenly appeared, and it was equipped with a close-up of the thriller characters, causing them to be frightened in the middle of the night.
Thriller ads appear when iQIYI pauses playback (white is the remote control to block the horror face)
According to Article 9 of the Advertising Law, obscenity, pornography, gambling, superstition, terror and violence shall not appear in advertisements. In response to the above situation, the relevant personnel involved in the platform have indicated that they will report to the relevant departments for optimization and adjustment.