Netflix stated plans to release an ad-support plan earlier this year and now the details of the new plan have been announced. Netflix with ads will cost $6.99 per month in the US and include one stream at a time at up to 720p video quality. The plan will be available starting November 3rd and it is also coming to Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Spain, and the UK. In addition to the new ad-supported plan, Netflix will finally be upping its cheapest ad-free plan, which remains at $9.99/month, from 480p SD video to 720p HD video.
Netflix says that ads in the ad-supported plan will be 15-30 seconds in length and play both before and during shows and films. You can expect to see an average of about four to five minutes of ads per hour. There will be a small selection of shows and movies that will not be available to subscribers of the ad-supported plan, but Netflix says that’s due to licensing restrictions that it’s working on, so it doesn’t seem like Netflix will be artificially limiting its own content from the ad-supported plan. Subscribers to the ad-supported plan will also not be able to download content for offline viewing.
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Should of been atleast two streams at once. Hulu gives you 2 screens and is $8 a month. Bad move by netflix.
Netflix has more content, though, and vastly more original content. You’re getting a lot to watch for $7/month.
Improving the resolution of the ad-free Basic to 720p is also a welcome change. That will likely get some people who live alone to consider downgrading from Standard.
I’m def considering the downgrade. I’m one of those people who don’t mind ads to give me a change to use my phone or take a quick break.
The commercials constantly interrupt the narrative. Every seven, 10 or 12 minutes, our attention to what is happening on the Television is cut into by a commercial. This constant interruption of concentration it generates not only dominates much of our lives, but over the long run also is bound to bleed into our prosperity.
I honestly think that Netflix’s whole problem is that they are congenitally incapable of truly understanding that they aren’t the only kid on the block anymore. They pay lip service in the face of the obvious, sure, but they clearly don’t really get it.
Its the only thing that explains how their strategy upon losing massive tranches of the content that brought people to them was to paradoxically raise prices. They did this repeatedly, to add insult to injury. Nevermind that this only made the lower priced new services that now had the in demand content more competitive, not less.
Then they spent a ton of money flooding their library with generic content to replace the premium IP content they lost to the other services. Again, this only makes sense if you realize they thought people would value any Netflix content over specific shows and movies on the newer services.
Then they developed a notorious habit of cancelling the shows they bought that actually succeeded in catching an audience for a season or two, because of the thinking that existing shows with established viewer bases didn’t bring in new customers. This shows that it was a unchallenged matter of faith that only new customers were worth chasing. Existing customers wouldn’t leave Netflix, because (chuckle) where else would they go?
Then, finally facing the actual loss of new and existing customers, they show that they still don’t get it with this, their “big” competitive innovation. Mind you, this ad-tier isn’t bad, but it really nothing more than a common sense stop gap to minimally compete against other of the newer services that have been doing it for a long time.
If Netflix truly understood their place in the new world, they would be innovating in ways that rewarded and thereby retained existing customers. ie. give plan discounts by years of continual patronage, make the subscribe and binge for a month model fiscally obsolete.
Prioritize sustaining shows that have attracted loyal fans (aka: customers willing to stay), rather than cancelling them when they are no longer the IT thing. Stranger Things shows that they are at least receptive to this lesson. Now if they had only learned it before shortsightedly cancelling Glow, Santa Clarita Diet, The Dark Crystal, etc, etc.
Seriously, if Netflix just shifted to acting like the established big boy with upstart competitors it is, rather than the disruptive buzzworthy start-up it hasn’t been for a long time, they would be fine.
So far, they haven’t shown that they can do that.
Oooh, missed a close-italic there.
Sorry.
Elias, any possibility we might get an edit function in the future? My proofreading is really, reelly bad.
It’s tough to allow edits without requiring accounts and I like keeping commenting as easy as possible to encourage discussions. Maybe someday when I’ve got some extra time I’ll see if I can at least allow edits as long as you don’t navigate away after submitting a comment, but it’s not a big issue as is so no rush. For now, I’m your edit function so I fixed your missed close-italic.
Just a counterpoint (and to your point, I’m still pissed about Santa Clarita Diet and for that matter the OA):
I think this is the appropriate way to introduce an ad bundle. Unlike just about every other streaming service out there other than say an HBO – Netflix has existed for YEARS without ads.
With Netflix ad-free, they never had to worry about ratings or viewership time per say. They just had to have diverse enough content to keep people from leaving. Not everyone gets a lot of usage out of streaming services, yet many maintain subscriptions for just a couple of things here and there.
Hulu had TONS of ad data. How much can we charge? How much do users use our system (more time = more ads shown = higher renewal rates with advertisers).
Netflix is completely new to this. They don’t want a few million subscribers switch to this tier without understanding that it will be as profitable or more profitable.
So I would expect their ad free offerings to change/morph/expand over time, but I get dipping their toe in the water.
You stated up to 720P. I briefly tried the SD level not too long ago and watched about 30 minutes and then cancelled and didn’t watch during the remaining month. It was not worth watching. I wonder if up 720P would be a better level of definition? I doubt it.
On your TV? Probably not. Mine either.
But it does offer something to cash strapped young adults that are watching on their phones, tablets and 32 inch TV’s.
Terrible, not even much of a discount considering the price increase
it is not much cheaper than it was before they raised the price, and 720p in 2022?
By all rights the ad version at this resolution should be free especially from how many ads people in the above comments are reporting.
there are many free with ads streaming apps already at the same or higher resolution that have less ads.
What is the benefit here, the exclusive “woke” content?
Give the man a cigar! You are making a lot sense. Why wouldn’t these companies make ad supported free? Why pay once for the sub and again and more importantly with your time and attention. Add to that in the case of Netflix you get crappy looking resolution. There isn’t much to recommend this deal.
“pay once for the sub and again and more importantly with your time and attention.”
Yes, circle gets a square!
In fact they should be paying us to watch the ad version especially at 720p
Just like brave does for opting to see ads in their browser ,when will we see the first ad supported streaming app to pay us in BAT (Basic Attention Token)
Most of the content is so bad these days we should get paid BAT to watch it even without ads.