Would you be willing to watch some commercials in exchange for a discount on your Netflix subscription? Apparently many users do, and that is why the streaming giant is preparing a set of plans with Microsoft at a much lower price, as long as you accept some ads in your series.
However, the great doubt so far is how much its value would be, an amount that the firm handles in the most complete secrecy.
No more. According to a report from the financial media Bloomberg citing sources inside the company, Netflix plans to launch its plans with between 7 and 9 dollars per month, depending on whether it is an HD or 4K quality subscription. That’s about a half cut from the cost of regular no-ads plans, which in January this year raised their cost to $15.50 and $20, respectively.
Namely, in both cases the price will be reduced by 45%.
In Chile, the three plans on offer (SD quality on 1 screen at a time, HD on 2 screens and 4K on 4 screens at a time) currently cost 5,940, 8,320 and 10,700 Chilean pesos. If we do the same exercise, ad-supported plans should cost $2,670, $3,700, and $4,800 respectively.
But what would you have to accept in return?
The same Bloomberg sources indicate that Netflix is very concerned about not irritating users with , who on average endure 10 to 20 minutes of ads per hour on cable channels.
Thus, the company would start slowly, with no more than 4 ads per hour and never during the finale of a series or movie. They will also not place ads on children’s content and will ensure that ad selections rotate so users don’t have to see the same ads over and over again.
For this work, Netflix made an agreement with Microsoft, so that its technology and knowledge -which only last year generated more than 10,000 million dollars in sales- is applied to the selection of its products.
The sources also told Bloomberg that they are working flat out to launch the new ad-supported plans by the end of this year, in at least 12 markets around the world, without confirming which countries would be the first “beneficiaries.”
Netflix: “For now it’s just speculation”
Consulted by the technology blog The Verge Regarding this report, the Netflix spokeswoman, Kumiko Hidaka, assured that “at the moment it is just speculation”, assuring that they are “still deciding what is the best way to launch the plans with , their price and that there is no decisions made”.
Despite this, Netflix is on the ropes. After having lost 1 million subscribers at the end of the last fiscal year, and with an additional loss of 200,000 subscribers in the first three months of 2022, in addition to fierce global competition from services such as Disney +, HBO Max, Apple, Paramount + or Amazon Prime Video, the house of “Stranger Things” must move fast to regain favor with consumers.