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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Hopefully that doesn’t mean we are going to see a slowdown in personal media features.
It will. As someone who only uses Plex, I’m sure the company will have to strive so hard after monetization that they’ll ruin the product and force us onto an open source alternative. I like Plex, but I don’t expect it to last after seeing all the other tech companies fail at this.
we already have seen a slowdown in core usability features in favour of chasing new customers.
Wasn’t Plex originally a fork of XBMC?
Yoy might be thinking of Kodi. Plays media just fine on a RasPi, bit of a different experience though!
Both are forks of XBMC.
Corporate Greed
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Seriously. They expect 30% growth? They can afford a few salaries.
They don’t want to invest in the core program features anymore, they only want more customers & content acquisition.
What they want is inevitably going to make us their competition, Plex’s FAST userbase growth will be the death of the original product.
Jellyfin is so good now. I used to use Plex but I have no need for it now at all.
I tried Jellyfin a couple years ago, but it always struggled with ASS (advanced substation alpha) subtitles. I remember it had to burn them on play, or I’d have to use something like SickRage or handbrake or something to pre-burn them, otherwise my relatively modest server would cry. Googling isn’t telling me much, anyone know if this has gotten better?
I have no issues. You can either set up automatic transcoding, or enable DirectPlay if your TV (or whatever other client you use) supports the format you’re playing.
Know a good way to export/import? I’ve got a large database with custom artworks etc.
Jellyfin has tools that let you export a watch list from one app and merge it with jellyfin
Anywhere for people to browse pay-for-access jellyfin servers?
I only still have a plex server running for audiobook support with the app Prologue. Everything else is happy in Jellyfin and and has been rock solid. Plex went way to corporate and it creeped me out.
I hadn’t heard of Prologue and it looks amazing, unfortunately it’s not on Android.
If I remember correctly, I think I’ve read there is an Android equivalent. Prologue is pretty flawless.
There doesn’t appear to be an Android version of this specific app, so it would have to be under a different name.
Check out Chronicle: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.github.mattpvaughn.chronicle Haven’t used it much, but my experience has been flawless.
There’s also Bookcamp: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.bookcamp.android, but I think that’s subscription based.
Copy/paste mostly from another reply I made:
I have a huge audiobook library, I was fully prepared to do all the processes to move and organize my mess of a library to get it working with Plex. I’m sure you’ve seen the GitHub guide floating around.
But when it came time to sit down and configure my server for audiobooks, ebooks, tv, movies, and music, I found that audiobookshelf just did a way better job with less of a headache. My current stack is Beet.io with audible support to move my already downloaded library into a better folder and naming structure. Once I get those all finished I won’t have to use this step. This gets stuff about ~80% of the way there except when the source is really messed up.
From there I have Readarr looking at the Beets destination folder and managing downloads. This is pretty good for getting most of the rest of the info with some clean up and is similar to setting up other Arrs. Then audiobookshelf for final tweaks and browsing/downloading.
It’s quite a pain to ingest an initial large library but for new downloads it’s been pretty seamless. Way easier and more consistent than having to do most of this anyway plus fight with Plex.
The audiobookshelf library is really great and can pull audiobook specific information from a lot of sources automatically. You can browse by series or narrator or genre too and if you listen through their app or through the browser it syncs your progress which is nice.
The audiobookshelf app is pretty good for browsing and downloading but I don’t like the player as much as my usual one. But you can just point the download at whatever folder your favorite player uses.
Since you’re already using Plex for audiobooks you can probably skip all these steps straight to audiobookshelf if your folder structure already matches
I’ve tried Audiobookshelf and it just wasnt for me. I hadn’t used Beet with it, but my issue was never really the organization part, more the playback part. I can’t remember exactly what features were lacking in ABS, but I do remember being disappointed in it. To the point where I spun up a dedicated plex server JUST for my audiobooks, and to since then, I’ve been incredibly happy with the UX.
I didn’t know that beets supports books. I used that tool like… honestly at least a decade ago to organize a giant music library I had, and it was a great tool. Thanks for sharing!
Also, I just wish Jellyfin supported audiobooks in the same manner that Plex does. Then I’d be back to one media server running.
Plex DMCA’d my private server a few months ago.
So I cancelled my Plex Pass and moved on to greener pastures.
They seem to be doing everything they can to get rid of their foundational userbase so they can attract… Ad supported free TV watchers?..
What morons are running the show in Silicon Valley?
Wait, what? What were you seeding?
Seriously, I’ve never heard of Plex giving a shit what you share on a private server. So much so that people sell access to their servers. Makes me wonder if our boy here was up to something more illegal than piracy. 💀
Makes me wonder if our boy here was up to something more illegal than piracy. 💀
I would expect that to get you a knock on the door, not a DMCA notice, as DMCA notices require someone to claim copyright
Agreed… Absolutely insane if true
There are a ton of Plex servers that sell access to their libraries to make some money back. They’re generally called “Plex Shares” on the internet (and, while I don’t want to point people to Reddit I know that r/plexshares is a thing, for example).
So there are a lot of services that have all of their Plex servers point to one enormous library and then they sell access. It’s basically Netflix, but through Plex.
Plead has definitely been cracking down on this recently. Especially around last Christmas I was seeing servers banned every day. I assume this is what OP was doing, selling access to their server and Plex caught on. I know you mentioned selling access to servers but I’m guessing it depends on scale. Maybe OP Got big enough to be on Plex’s radar. One of the sites I use has thousands of users, 24/7 support, etc. It’s a whole business. I think this is what Plex has been trying to stop
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This doesn’t surprise me. The “features” that keep being added to Plex drive me nuts. I just want to be able to browse and watch from my own library.
Those features are what bring in revenue and I don’t blame them for trying to be profitable. You can only get so far on lifetime subscriptions.
As long as they don’t abandon the core product so I can continue using it as the awesome media server that it is I have no complaints. They can add all the additional features they want.
DVR, commercial skip, intro and credit detection, plexpy etc… are all awesome features which have been added in the last 5 years or so and enhance the core product.
It seems like in the last few years the company’s focus has primarily been on adding things to Plex that I do not want as part of Plex. And not adding the audiobook support that I do want.
Look up audiobookshelf if you’re willing to mess with docker a bit and forward a port or two. It’s open source and does a, wonderful job.
Audiobookshelf is great
Look up audiobookshelf if you’re willing to mess with docker a bit and forward a port or two. It’s open source and does a wonderful job.
There was a webtools addon that could add this. I think it’s still out there but I forget the name. I know plugins were disabled, but this did still and does still work for me.
I have tried the plugins, they just don’t work as well as smart audiobook player.
I have a huge audiobook library, I was fully prepared to do all the processes to move and organize my mess of a library to get it working with Plex. I’m sure you’ve seen the GitHub guide floating around.
But when it came time to sit down and configure my server for audiobooks, ebooks, tv, movies, and music, I found that audiobookshelf just did a way better job with less of a headache. My current stack is Beet.io with audible support to move my already downloaded library into a better folder and naming structure. Once I get those all finished I won’t have to use this step. This gets stuff about ~80% of the way there except when the source is really messed up.
From there I have Readarr looking at the Beets destination folder and managing downloads. This is pretty good for getting most of the rest of the info with some clean up and is similar to setting up other Arrs. Then audiobookshelf for final tweaks and browsing/downloading.
It’s quite a pain to ingest an initial large library but for new downloads it’s been pretty seamless. Way easier and more consistent than having to do most of this anyway plus fight with Plex. I do still want them to add support, though.
The audiobookshelf app is pretty good for browsing and downloading but I think the player is way worse than Smart Audiobook Player. But what I do is just use the audiobookshelf app to download the books to Smart’s library folder and then use the best player app for listening.
Thanks! I’ll check out audiobookshelf.
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.
Shit. I’d have moved to Jellyfin already if they had an Apple TV client. If they go under I might have to get a 2nd set top box just to run JF.
They have “Swiftfin” but it’s had two updates in two years and it’s close to useless
It’s a paid app, but infuse works very well on apple TV
Good tip. Thanks.
I’ve been using Swiftfin on my Apple TV with zero problems. Its a lot more simple than Plex.
Good tip.
they have an app on apple tv thats been working well with unraid and a jellyfin docker
I’m honestly surprised that Plex has revenue in the “double-digit millions”
Hopefully they leave the free features as is, and don’t starting going down the road many other companies have to squeeze out profit.
Hahaheheheh, aaahhhhh…
wipes eyes
Anyway, thanks for the morning chuckle.
If they’re trying to appease shareholders, then I feel like the enshittification is just starting. I’ve got Emby Premiere (webhooks were paywalled and are quite useful) and like that I have an off-ramp to Jellyfin if they start heading down a similar path.
Agreed, but I have a feeling I’ll be using Jellyfin in a few years.
Join us; It’s fantastic.
Please put some love on the appletv app for the love of god. I had sworn off plex totally based on the jellyfin community evangelists. VERY quickly switched back when I couldn’t even select which subtitle I wanted
I tried jellyfin for a short while but was so freaking annoyed by jellyfin users. Yes, I know you love your app but there are some large issues with it too, and I was shouted down repeatedly like I havent seen since Android v apple.
I experienced some of that gatekeeping too. “Oh I’m sorry, did you want a corporate streamer that let’s you change your subtitles get lost corpo”
Exactly. It’s not even for me but like, I have older family members who use it. I need it to be as easy for them to use as Plex is. Yes I know I can open the terminal and do x y and z, but they are going to just know “if I hit play it should play”.
I’ll give it another shot with this news, but yeah, was put off by them.
I mean yeah I would very happily move to Jellyfin. It just needs some time to cook. As of now it’s got quite a bit of work to do.
Try emby, much better than jellyfin for me. I had an issue that jellyfin wasn’t able to reproduce some of the series that I was watching, or it had severe issues. I had zero issues with emby.
I’ll give it a shot. I had written it off before for reasons I don’t remember off the top of my head.
edit: oh that’s right, it’s paid. I’ll stick with the free stuff
Sure thing. I had some issues with jellyfin transpiling some series, the Android TV app was unable to skip forward for example, and sometimes it stopped reproducing (WiFi issues, sure but they didn’t happen with emby). I only had to pay like 5€ total for the android app, and the server is completely free. I would switch to jellyfin if their streaming app / service were as good, but beiing the only one in the household that cares, having already paid the single payment to emby and being the one that has to fix issues on movie night while my partner is side eyeing me for changing shit again, I won’t bother for a good while
(^_^')
FOSS are not monolithic entities. Some individual with the knowledge, skills and free time has to be willing to work on those things. Most people who develop certain features in open source, do so because of a personal interest. If you don’t have the skills yourself, you can go find whoever maintains that app or someone willing to contribute and drop them a donation for their continued effort.
Monolithic tech giants accostumed people to pay for services with their private data and attention. As the past year has proven, this wasn’t a healthy arrangement and the comeuppance was way overdue. Contribute to the solution, don’t just complain about the problem.
Great, let them burn. I am a plexpass lifetime sub, but switched to Jelly. Opensource for the win.
30% growth after a 20% layoff huh?
Makes the growth 30% easier when it’s 20% less!
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)
I’ve had a lifetime licence for a couple years, I’m becoming more and more bitter about the service but jellyfin isn’t as appropriate for the people I share with.
Plex isn’t improving its core service, in favour of focusing on new FAST customers, but there just isn’t an alternative so they get to abuse their position.
After having checked out Plex, Jellyfin and Emby I’ve decided the latter was still my favorite. Jellyfin just isn’t there yet, lack of built in image-scrubbers, intro-outro-detection and quality clients just makes it inconvenient for me. Plex’s external authentication makes it a no go for me.
Emby is the only one that’s focused on what it tries to achieve and delivers. Also the support team is super helpful and pushes out fixes in a pretty good time. Not FOSS though
HEVC files work fine in JF. I stream to a smart (android) TV, Shield and windows app. You need to have transcoding enabled though for smart tvs and browsers which isn’t really an option for docker unless you have the grunt on your host.
Docker does work for transcoding but because I’m using Proxmox it’s slightly more complicated since I want my windows VMs to not be a slog and run mediaservers on a iGPU.
Atleast on Plex it can do software transcode and not be bothered by an annoying “cannot play this media on this device”. This was a few months ago and I still run both but Plex serves me fine fot the time being
The evil clone of XBMC is finally in its death throes (yes I’m still bitter about that). No worry, Jellyfin is better.
XBMC
Wow that takes me back lol
Does XBMP ring any bells?
007 Nightfire softmod crew checking in. Kodi has been making the best htpc for more than a decade now. I love me some jellyfin, but I’ll probably always have a kodi box or two around the house.
I think Kodi would be more akin to XMBC. What’s the relation with Plex?
Kodi IS XBMC. It’s the same team, XBMC changed their name to Kodi once it became unavoidably awkward that no one was running XBMC on actual Xboxes anymore. Plex started as a fork of XBMC but went down the proprietary route and shunned their FOSS roots.
Wow, it’s almost like those free channels the put all over my Plex that nobody wants was was a bad investment. Still love Plex as a service but I find it hard to see any value in FAST.
Try Jellyfin. Much better
