They changed their strategic direction for the show.
Go back and re-watch the first season, then try to watch the next two.
The first season is trying to compete with what HBO used to be known for: high-budget spectacles. It’s like a blockbuster movie stretched out into a series. The lighting, the costumes the editing, the special effects, the casting, the writing, the sound design. It’s comparable to Game of Thrones, Stranger Things, Band of Brothers, Wanda Vision, The Last of Us, Breaking Bad, the Walking Dead, the Mandalorian, American Horror Story, Westworld, etc. Of course, those shows aren’t all perfect but they have high production values (or at least started that way) and were meant to be premium technical showcases. Back before the days of streaming, this was the quality of show where you’d have to pay your cable company extra to get that channel.
Immediately with season 2 of the Witcher, everything feels worse. The most obvious to me is how Yennifer went from her ridiculous outfits to dresses that look like they’re on sale at Kohl’s today. The lighting, the makeup, everything. It’s the quality of basic daytime cable TV, the kind that is still broadcast over the air for free.
Just to toss my feedback in the ring: I listen to a podcast themed around a local sports team on Spotify, and I often download them to my phone locally because I’m old and still have the habits of being on a limited data plan even though I’ve had unlimited for years.
I noticed the ads (pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll) and was surprised because a lot of them tend to be local ads for various cities across the US. HVAC services in Chicago, lawyers in Houston, etc. None for the city where the podcasters live, most of their audience lives, or the spots team is based.
I don’t always download the episodes to listen, only if I know I’m going to be out , or if I’m mowing the lawn and might occasionally stretch my wifi range. I haven’t tested fully, but it seems as though the ads only get baked into the audio upon download.
I also noticdd a few months ago that downloading a podcast I was partway through resets my progress, which has been incredibly annoying. If the ads are inserted at the time of download, that would make sense because the length of the audio would change.