Netflix subscribers are declining, and yesterday, the company laid off 300 employees. It’s not surprising, then, that the streaming service intends to create a lower-cost, ad-supported option.
With many people wanting to save as much money as possible right now, the company intends to entice many to switch (or join up) and accept they’ll have to watch advertising in exchange for a reduced monthly fee.
At the Cannes Lions advertising festival on 23 June 2022, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos stated that ads will be coming to Netflix, but did not provide a timeframe on when this will happen.
“We’ve left a big customer segment off the table, which is people who say: ‘Hey, Netflix is too expensive for me and I don’t mind advertising,’” Sarandos said. “We [are] adding an ad tier; we’re not adding ads to Netflix as you know it today. We’re adding an ad tier for folks who say, ‘Hey, I want a lower price and I’ll watch ads.’”
According to the New York Times, Netflix staff were told that advertising would be introduced by the end of 2022, which is an earlier schedule than when co-founder and co-CEO Reed Hastings initially suggested the idea in April, implying that it could take longer.
There are no details on the expected pricing of the ad-supported tier yet.
In Kenya, plans range from Ksh 300 to Ksh 1,450 a month. The current prices for Netflix are as follows:
- Netflix Mobile – KES 300
- Netflix Basic – KES 700
- Netflix Standard – KES 1,100
- Netflix Premium – KES 1,450