Most people can remember watching a movie on network TV and feeling frustrated when a voiceover interrupted the credits to announce what’s coming up next. Now, Apple TV+ is facing criticism on X/Twitter for taking it a step further by “ruining” the ending of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic Psycho. The platform auto-minimized the film’s final moments to promote The Big Bang Theory, sparking outrage.
Apple TV+ Receiving Criticism on Social Media
It’s one thing to cut off end credits—a practice every streaming service does now—but with Psycho, there’s a unique issue. The film has no traditional end credits, so when Apple TV+ decided to insert a self-promotion, it ended up disrupting one of the movie’s most chilling scenes: Norman Bates, played by Anthony Perkins, staring directly into the camera, followed by the shot of Marion Crane’s car being pulled from the lake.
Unsurprisingly, this move didn’t go unnoticed. As the original post gained traction, more viewers chimed in, with even a Hollywood star expressing shock. The consensus? Viewers are fed up with their viewing experience being interrupted on services they pay for, especially when they’ve opted for an ad-free subscription. Some argued that since the movie was technically over, it wasn’t a big deal, but many others questioned why streamers can’t offer an option to prevent these interruptions, which sometimes cut into the last few seconds of a film.
Psycho’s lack of end credits presents a problem similar to what YouTube users have faced for years: ads and cross-promotion that disrupt content at crucial moments. When you’re paying for a streaming service like Apple TV+, it’s not unreasonable to expect a better experience than what you get with free platforms. However, even paid services prioritize promoting their content, and while modern movies often have long credit sequences that allow for this, older films like Psycho do not, making the end of the movie truly the end.
Promotion Disrespects Hitchock’s Work
This means that pre-set promotional interruptions often cut into the final shots rather than the credits, and with a movie like Psycho, this intrusion breaks the mood Hitchcock masterfully created, just before the screen fades to black.
The online outrage is unlikely to force major streaming platforms to change their approach, but it does spotlight how viewers feel about ads and self-promotion. Streaming services, which initially moved away from the network TV model, are now increasingly returning to ad-supported content and weekly episode releases. As they continue down this path, it seems these kinds of interruptions will remain a persistent annoyance for viewers.
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