Netflix Becomes Basic?

Netflix will be releasing an ad-supported subscription plan at the price of $6.99.

On Thursday, October 13th, the popular streaming platform Netflix announced their new “Basic with Ads” monthly subscription package that will start on November 3rd.

Current members on alternate plans can rest assure that they will not be affected by the new ads. Netflix claims that “Basic with Ads” is a compliment to their existing options.

Due to healthy competition from other streaming services like Disney+, HBOMax, and Hulu, Netflix has seen a significant loss in user count and stock price. In 2022 alone, Netflix has lost over 970,000 users, and their stock has dropped 60%.

In a hope to kick start subscriber count, the “Basic with Ads” plan will provide a lower cost alternative to the $10 to $20 other monthly options. Netflix estimates a one million user increase in the fourth quarter of 2022 with the plan’s release.

This plan will play four to five minutes of advertisements for every hour of content the user watches. Allowing advertisers to reach their target audience by working with the ratings count agency Nielsen, Netflix says they will also be able to “prevent their ads from appearing on content that might be inconsistent with their brand (e.g. sex, nudity or graphic violence).”

While it comes as a shock from a platform that was adamantly against ad content, Netflix is not the only streaming platform to be releasing ad-supported plans. Disney+ will be releasing their ad plan on December 8th along with increasing the price of their ad-free option.