Netflix will be launching its ad-supported subscription plan in early 2023:
Currently, Netflix’s ad-free plan costs about $15/month in most countries, the same as Amazon Prime Video. However, Netflix is introducing an ad-supported subscription plan to target budget-conscious users who are unwilling to pay the standard $15/month.
The company is still debating how best to run ads within its content without ruining the user experience.
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Netflix’s Ad-Supported Plan
Netflix knows that running too many ads on the platform won’t be welcomed by most users. According to credible rumors, the company is planning to charge a small fee, which could be between $7 to $9, for its ad-supported tier. This is up to 50% less than the standard ad-free plan.
Several reports also suggest that Netflix plans to show about 4 minutes of ads every hour. So, users that will subscribe to this plan will have to watch up to 8 minutes of ads for a two-hour movie. These ads will be shown before and during specific programs on the platform, but not after.
Of course, the total duration of the ads that a user will watch could vary based on location and the category of content they are streaming. But remember, most streaming platforms such as YouTube and Spotify don’t charge users to access ad-supported content. These platforms use ad-supported plans as entry-level plans with the aim of attracting users to their ad-free premium plans.
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No Option To Download On Ad-Supported Plan
Besides ads, users that subscribe to this plan will also not have the option to download content for offline access. This is intentional because showing ads is only possible if the targeted users are live streaming the content.
At this point, it is still unclear how many people will be willing to pay the $7 or $9 that Netflix plans to charge for their new entry-level subscription plan. We just have to wait for the numbers after the second or third quarter earnings announcements in 2023.