We all knew it was coming. Netflix is in dire need of improved financial stability with Disney+ expanding across the world and stealing more subscribers. In a desperate attempt to fight back, it’s going to release an ad-supported payment tier at a lower cost.
Bloomberg was able to obtain some details in a new report that reveals how much this new Netflix tier will cost. Estimations set it between $7 and $9 per month. If you look at the current price of $15.49 for the full package, it’s roughly half the amount.
The reduced Netflix plan does come at a cost, if you’ll excuse the pun. You’ll have to suffer through at least four minutes of adverts per hour, which will feature before and during movies or shows. There are no plans to place ads after shows, as no one really sticks around that long. Unless it’s a Marvel movie, of course, which usually has a teaser in the credits.
We’re expecting to see the new ad-supported tier towards the end of the year. This package has two benefits for Netflix. The first is that it can draw in new subscribers so they can see if the streaming platform is worth using. When it comes to the ads, it will surely advertise upgrading to the Premium plan a hundred times a day.
The second benefit is that it will accrue income from the commercials. According to the report, Netflix estimates it can make up to $8.5 billion annually by the time we reach 2027. Not too bad for a company that thought it was doomed a few months ago.
To make sure it doesn’t lose too much money from password sharing, Netflix has already implemented extra payments. So someone else is watching on your account, expect your bill to be a bit higher soon.
