Ask Lemmy

Because they know most people are too lazy, too addicted, too lacking in tech for any other solution, so they'll take the abuse.

Because they think you'll be too addicted to their content and offerings to quit

already ditched them most of them and moved to self hosting movies, TV shows and music. I'm still paying for music but the latest drama of losing tons of classics on YouTube music due to SESAC licensing has me rethinking what I'm even paying for.

Bcs they act as a monopoly in regards to alternatives.

They only slightly intend to compete against each other but pretend nothing else exist (pirates, or people just shifting towards other forms of entertainment).

And they are ofc in cahoots in the sense that their common goal is to normalise paying several hundred moneys per month for streaming services and have the streaming service full of ads regardless.
So in that sense they will not compete but back each other up.

Like land owners/landlords, their main goals are completely aligned.

And that is how 'market disruptions' actually work - its not to offer a new service to the end user (like Uber-ish services are the same as taxi services from the perspective of users), it's to undercut the existing regime with lower prices whilst living on capital given because of the promise that once the old regime is gone they can crank up the prices & actually profitable (we are actually just at this stage right now - watch how much monthly fees are gonna go up in just a few years).

Goal/end stage:
Users are gonna be glued to their ad-ridden TVs just the same as boomers but far better monetised (watching TV is gonna be expensive).

It’s always about the 💰💰💰they’re getting.

Television does it

Because of the people they loose due to the price hike, more will stay for the new price.

Already lots of great answers, but I'll add a note about intentional barriers to exit.

Many services tend to make it easy to sign up and comparably more difficult to quit. So while people always can leave and take their business elsewhere, they might not have the motivation to do it. I imagine each additional click in a form deters more and more people. OP mentioned being unmotivated, and these barriers play into that.

It's like wandering around in Ikea. You could use a map and chart out the fastest route to find what you need and get out. But it's so much easier to follow the little path they draw out on the floor and look at everything, which makes you way more likely to impulsively buy something extra.

You are just one drop in an ocean pal.

Because they're also going after piracy as hard as they can

They’re sure you will, or some will, but the number of customers they lose will be offset by the revenue gained.

Since that’s the only metric they really care about at the end of the day it makes “sense” to them to do it.

Because companies want more money and people get used to it.

The economy is in a weird spot where data looks alright (employment and gdp) but the covid economy hit everyone including your friendly neighborhood corporation. Ads are a simple and reliable way to turn up profits in a soft economy and declining global situation and inflation. Since companies have effectively stolen wages for so many years they can't cope with modest wage spike on their bottom line or really any disruption anywhere in their business they use ads to print money. Maybe as time goes on business will benefit from slowing wage growth and increasing automation we will see ad growth scale back. Regulation would be nice but what are you going to do?

https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2021/03/COVID-inequality-and-automation-acemoglu.htm

https://www.atlantafed.org/blogs/macroblog/2024/06/27/are-real-wages-catching-up