Netflix is working on a partially ad-funded subscription with a lower final score than a classic subscription.
In the more or less near future, Netflix may offer a subscription that is less expensive than existing subscriptions funded in part by ads. During the company’s latest earnings presentation, co-CEO Reed Hastings revealed that the streaming giant is currently working on such a proposal and that they will finalize the details “by next or next year.”Reed Hastings also said that he finds advertising difficult and a big fan of the ease of subscription, but giving customers who don’t mind advertising the option to pay less “made a lot of sense.”
Netflix is working on a partially ad-supported subscription
And it can be very interesting for society as well. Indeed, the service lost about 200,000 subscribers during the first quarter of 2022, mainly due to increasingly fierce competition, as well as the inability of the platform to expand into certain territories due to technology limitations and account sharing. Apparently, 222 million households will pay for Netflix, but more than 100 million will have shared accounts.
For a lower final score than a classic subscription
Last March, Netflix began testing a feature in Chile, Costa Rica and Peru that allowed subscribers to add up to two “child accounts”with their own logins and profiles for as little as $3. It’s only a fraction of the cost of a full subscription, but Netflix will at least offer a completely legal and cost-effective solution for users who typically borrow accounts from family or friends.
Reed Hastings also clarified during the presentation that ad-supported subscriptions will be added to existing offerings and that those who don’t have trouble paying full price won’t have to deal with ads: “Obviously it works for Hulu, Disney does it well.”, HBO did it. We have no doubt that it works.”And add that Netflix will only be a publisher there and that it will in no way use user data to deliver targeted ads, as some competitors currently do.