Netflix is gearing up to reveal its much-anticipated ad-supported tier this year on November 1. Countries like the US, UK, Canada, France, and Germany will be included in the initial stages of the launch of this new tier. As already noted, this new version will be much cheaper than the basic version, which costs about “£6.99 a month in the UK and $9.99 in the US,” as per the reports. However, Netflix had planned to release this new tier in 2023, but in order to attract a wide audience, it has announced an earlier launch date. Also, its competitor “Disney+” is also planning to release its own adverts on December 8 in the US, so Netflix has come up with a launch date earlier than its rival.
As we know, many strong brands have an interest in advertising their products through Netflix so that they may reach the targeted audience. Considering this, Netflix is charging brands “premium prices” for advertising of their products on this platform, and this accounts for roughly $65 (£56) against 1000 viewers. While talking about an earlier launch, Netflix said, “Yes, it’s fast and ambitious, and it will require some trade-offs.” Also, one of the reasons behind this plan is that Netflix, unfortunately, lost around 200,000 subscribers worldwide in the first three months of this year.
Similarly, in the second quarter of the year, Netflix lost another 1 million subscribers. So, this early launch and that too, at a nominal price, would pave the way to attracting subscribers. Netflix said, “Every major streaming company, excluding Apple has or has announced an ad-supported service. For good reason, people want lower-priced options.” This means that subscribers still have to pay the monthly subscription fee, as it’s not free.
According to the co-CEO of Ted Sarandos, “Today, the vast majority of what people watch on Netflix, we can include in the ad-supported tier. There are some things that don’t – that we’re in a conversation about with the studios – but if we launched the product today, the members in the ad tier would have a great experience. We will clear some additional content, but certainly not all of it, but we don’t think it’s a material holdback to the business. “
It has to be noted that Netflix will not feature any content related to the BBC because the BBC has some issues prevailing with the license fee regarding the supporting ads. However, as of now, we know very few details regarding the November 1 launch, but we will be expecting Netflix to soon reveal some official details of this upcoming project in the coming weeks.