Here’s my view on sponsored ads for extended viewing abilities:
Maybe have a few tiers that free and paid users can select from: (examples)
A) free no ads; no webview, snapshot and only automations based 12 sec upload, 5 minute cooldown, (normal).
B) free with ads; webview allowed but has ad banner at top, 1 minute upload with 2 minute cooldown, ads similar to the sample pictures.
C) reduced price paid with ads; all regular paid service provided with limited ads such as ‘tier B)’.
D) Regular price no ads; all regular paid service provided, ZERO ads.
With a few stipulations:
NO FULL SCREEN ADS, NO SOUND FROM ADS, NO RAPID FLASHING OR STROBING FROM ADS, ADS CAN NOT APPEAR OUTSIDE OF APP OR WEBSITE, ads must be curated or reviewed by a human for content before distribution (no porn, no dating sites, no adult content, no scams, etc.), ads must not exceed 15% (percent) of the top of the viewable screen area of live videos if presented in that way, ads on app spash screen must not slow down the loading of the app to live view, ads presented between video players (tiles) on the home screens must not exceed the height of one video player (tile).
(Also on a side topic: company wide, Cam Plus should be changed to any non “P” wording i.e. Cam Extended or Cam Extended Lite or Cam Versatile or Cam Utility or Cam Wyze or etc. If doing a system wide change to run ads, ‘now’ is the time to get rid of the words/terms plus, pro, premium. ).
Dave, that’s a very good idea. It would be more practical if the ads featured actual products from Home Depot, Harbor Freight, or similar stores, thinking from a consumer’s perspective. I would pay for Cam Plus if it provided access to the RTSP protocol via a web portal.
Otherwise, I’m not interested in Cam Plus at all and was planning to abandon my 8 cameras because of the lack of this feature
We are already a subscriber and would not want to see ads under any circumstances. We use your system for security - we rely on your service and ads would be totally out of the question for us. We would also want to be sure that the options we are paying for are a significant step up from the “ads based” option. We put a premium value our relationship with with WYZE, we do not take your service for granted and would want WYZE to recognize the value we bring to the WYZE as paid subscribers. Thanks so much, congrats on your success and happy new year.
What if this strategy doesn’t cover the costs enough, though? It’s not impossible Wyze might then decide all subscribers should pay more for an ad-free service. That’s become quite common with other companies.
Why don’t people feel a subscription isn’t worth the money? Other than it being an expense some might struggle with financially. Some people hate any subscription, yet why do we expect a service that costs a company money should come at no cost to us? I mostly feel the services I receive with most subscriptions I pay is worth the cost of the subscription. But, I also feel there is far too much corporate greed and the compensation upper management receives is excessive. Consequently, there are times I feel companies should absorb the cost of providing services to their customers.
Mostly I’m happy with Cam Unlimited. But that’s because I have SD cards in all my cameras. So, I’m not as bothered with the 12-15 second recordings that never capture the full event. Without the SD cards, I’d be less inclined to think the service being provided is worth the cost of the subscription.
I am annoyed by the constant 12-15 second recordings that rain or snow, insects, and foliage movement trigger. The street light outside my house now cycles through various brightnesses rather than being a steady brightness. Of course, that triggers multiple recordings all night when there is actually no movement of any kind. Yet, an animal, or even sometimes a person, moving within 10 feet or so of the camera might not trigger a recording. But 40 or more feet away, an animal walking down the alley behind my house or a car driving down the cross street will trigger a recording. Perhaps, I just haven’t got the right motion and sound detection sensitivity. Lowering it might reduce the excessive event recordings. But when actual movement is missed, lowering it might also cause more actual events to be missed.
I wonder if it’s possible to add in more movement types to capture or not capture? Reducing the number of false events being recorded would reduce the amount of space Wyze has to provide for recordings. Which might reduce the cost of the service, right?
Why is it that with Cam Plus and Cam Unlimited, which supposedly unlocks full-length event recording with no cool-down period, I have so many 12-15 second recordings rather than the full-length event? I get it when it’s just a car driving by because 12-15 seconds is pretty much the entire duration of the event. But someone moving around outside my house or an animal wandering around my yard for more than five minutes? Shouldn’t that full event be recorded?
That is why I initially selected Wyze as my cam of course. It was a great deal.
I understand the business reasons, but I didn’t want to be cheap and pay $0, so I didn’t continue subscribing. I found I really don’t need what the subscription offers, so I don’t subscribe. I don’t consider Wyze as a security company. I do enjoy the cams but I just want them for monitoring and record keeping.
I understand everyone has different ideas and use cases.
I was offered cams for a price, now with optional services. I don’t need those services. Therefore, I am a free-loader.
I think wyze should quit with gimmicks to get more users, and concentrate on getting the products they have working! I’ve had wyze products since the start of wyze, I’ve watched all of these new products come out, and have alot of them. All I’ve seen is more problems. No solutions. I was a beta tester until I got tired of trying to figure out the problems for wyze. Let’s work on the app releases the most, I haven’t had an update without issue forever! And lots of work on customer service, emails that take days to get are the most frustrating thing ever. It’s like trying to talk to your dog, you say something, and don’t get the result you’re looking for.
Besides, there’s already enough junk adds on other apps! You put that crap in this app, I’ll chuck all of the wyze equipment I own in the dumpster and never look back!
I think one of the biggest risks of Wyze doing “optional” ads is all the people who will complain about it as if they had no choice but to subscribe to ads, as if it’s mandatory and get mad and leave the company entirely even though they could’ve continued to have the same service they always had before without the extra ads. Their perception and the way they will fill the narrative is that Wyze forced ads on them (because they wanted the additional features without paying the subscription) and be mad at Wyze that they got ads instead of getting Cam Unlimited Free without Ads. Entitlement and twisted narratives are sure to be a factor. That is sadly a likely outcome that may make it not worth it from the company’s long term considerations.
In some ways it would be too bad. It would seriously be awesome if users like my family members could finally get Cam Plus totally free with limited banner ads as shown above in the examples. Lots of people would love it and appreciate it, but others’ responses may make it not worthwhile to provide that value to some people.
The example ads are way to big in my opinion. I think they would need to not take up so much vertical space. I suppose it depends on which camera as well seeing as the cam pan has the controls where the ad is being shown. Also when you turn your device to be in the landscape position, where would the ad be placed and how large would it be?
My main concern is it being in our faces to the point it becomes overwhelmingly annoying. I know there is going to be a fine line between that and making sure the sponsor is actually getting views and click throughs.
How about you focus on what WE, your users who have paid for your cameras and subscriptions, want. Make the V4 cam available in home monitoring already! No I don’t want ads for Home Depot or anyone else. I want my cameras to monitor my home and property.
Maybe, depends on the size & FREQUENCY of the ads. I’d rather you concentrate on FIXING your firmware & app. first, though!! How long will the cam v3 continue to not abide by the Notification setting in the app like the other cams do??
I don’t use cam plus features. Please just don’t force us all into it. If people want to opt in that’s fine, but please don’t put us all into the free cam plus with ads. I don’t need cam plus, and I really don’t want ads!!!
The other thing I’m concerned of, is we currently have people not on subscriptions that complain about getting tons of ads all the time right now (or even people with subscriptions saying they are getting too many Wyze ads in the app).
So, then when the new ad thing launches, people will be posting a lot of complaints that they “opted out of ads” and are still getting ads, even though they’re just getting the type of ads they currently get before the new ad program even launches. You know, the Wyze ads about “you should try cam plus” or there’s a “sale” going on in the Wyze store.
Some people will start to complain that they opted out of ads and are still getting those “ads” that have always been around. So, I suggest to Wyze that rather than telling people they “opted out of ads” or are getting ads, it should be clear that users opted out of “banner ads for OUTSIDE companies” and will only get the more limited Wyze ads (Cam Plus or store sales) instead.
I would set those expectations very clearly from the start. There will basically always be limited ads at a minimum as there already are. That’s not going away, but new people especially may misunderstand that.
Im sick of ads, I don’t care what something cost, I want the option of Ad free items. I pay for cam+. The more Ads I see for a product or service the more I try and avoid both the advertising and the platform the ad runs on. Everything these days is “sponsored” and the only benefactor is like Wyze who gets a fat check and HD who harvest user data, We as users, become the product. Sell your soul, everyone else does.
