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Plex, the free streaming app, laid off approximately 20% of its staff, TechCrunch has learned, which will affect all departments, including the Personal Media teams.

“This is by far the hardest decision we’ve had to make at Plex,” CEO Keith Valory said in a statement. “These are all wonderful people, great colleagues, and good friends. But we believe it is the right thing for the long-term health and stability of Plex.”

The streaming app gives users a single destination to upload and organize content (video, audio and photos) from their own server while also allowing them to stream it via mobile app, smart TV or desktop.

In recent years, however, Plex has invested in free, ad-supported streaming (FAST) and live TV offerings. The FAST market has become saturated as many companies have entered the space. Plus, the overall advertising industry has taken a hit, making it harder for companies to earn enough revenue.

Valory noted in his statement that the company was significantly impacted by the slowdown. “While we adjusted our business plan last year after the shift in equity markets to get us back on a path to profitability without having to cut personnel expenses, the downturn in the ad market in Q2 put significantly more pressure on our business and ultimately it became clear that we would need to take additional measures in order to maintain a confident path to profitability within the next 18 months,” he said.

He added that the company is still expected to see 30% growth this year.

According to a Slack message from Valory, obtained by The Verge, which first reported the layoffs, Valory noted that 37 employees would be impacted.

Additionally, it seems that Plex may have had another round of layoffs earlier this year. Five months ago, a former account executive posted on LinkedIn that they were “affected by company layoffs.”

As of January, the company had 175 employees, and its revenue was in the double-digit millions.

Updated 6/29/23 at 12:10 p.m. ET with a statement from CEO.

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[-] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 year ago

I hated using Plex. They make you suffer unless you pay way too much for what the service is worth. Jellyfin has been a far more pleasant experience.

[-] Hizeh@hizeh.com 9 points 1 year ago

Plex has been going downhill for a bit now. FAST is killing it.

[-] lemmyvore@feddit.nl 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I'm not sure how streaming compares to your own curated content. I mean sure in overall convenience for the average person FAST wins, but that's not the core audience for Plex. If they're competing with FAST then it would mean there was a major shift in it's users and I don't think it has. Nobody who's enjoyed having a NAS full of on demand content (and invested time and hardware) will just chuck it and go "ah yes streaming random stuff with ads was better after all".

If you ask me, Plex should take a hard look at what Emby and Jellyfin are doing right because that's their main competition. I understand they have to make money but locking everything behind their remote server is fundamentally flawed when I can't access a server sitting two feet away from me without a major detour over the internet. They should have integrated with existing solutions like Authelia, reverse proxies and Talescale not piss against the wind.

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[-] Contravariant@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

Yeah this is one of the reasons I don't like companies that profit directly of of pirating. It never ends well and eventually someone is going to figure out they can just buy the company instead of competing on convenience.

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[-] two_wheel2@lemm.ee 8 points 1 year ago

Whew I'm glad I just started up my jellyfin server!

[-] AES@lemmy.ronsmans.eu 8 points 1 year ago

Great, let them burn. I am a plexpass lifetime sub, but switched to Jelly. Opensource for the win.

[-] H2iK@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

Just curious, for everyone saying they switched to jellyfin, were you using the free version of plex?

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Hopefully they leave the free features as is, and don't starting going down the road many other companies have to squeeze out profit.

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[-] CaldeiraG@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Well, it's pretty unsurprising considering all companies are doing the same.

I've given a chance to Jellyfin but it's really frustating how it simply refused to play video files without any descriptive error logs. I think it mostly doesn't work properly on HEVC files (I think Edge is the only browser that properly supports x265) and my Android TV also doesn't play the damn thing.

Also adding that video files from the same release (which assumed are the same encoder), they either work perfectly or just refuse to work :(

I do not pay for Plex but I considered in the past getting a lifetime sub x)

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[-] MonkCanatella@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 year ago
[-] Zoidsberg@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 year ago

When COVID started really popping off, management at my old job gathered all the technicians together in the shop. They read a bunch of names off a piece of paper while everyone stood around confused, then they said "If you heard your name, this is your last day with the company." Absolutely heartless.

They then put out a canned public message about how hard the decision was, and how every employee is a member of the family.

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[-] scorpiosrevenge@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 year ago

I too cancelled my Plex pass about 6mo ago after a colleague introduced me to JellyFin. I imagine the huge hit ISPs have had on tracking torrent downloads is also curtailing their customer base. (Along with many people abandoning pirating and just paying for the convenience of various streaming services).

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this post was submitted on 02 Jul 2023
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