Netflix, the online streaming television and film service, is reported to be about to launch a new and cheaper tier that carries advertising as it attempts to turn the tide of more than a million subscriber losses in 2022. It is understood that the service will extend to the UK.
According to reports, the firm was planning to start the channel next year, but it appeared last week that it had been brought forward to as early as November, to beat the planned launch of an ad-supported Disney+ service in December. An article in The Guardian suggested that Netflix would also launch the service in the US, France, Germany, Australia and Canada among other places, and was expected to cost subscribers no more than $9 (about £7.79). The standard Netflix subscription is $15.49 (£13.41). Current subscribers to Netflix would continue not to see any ads.
However, a spokesperson for Netflix said the company had not yet made a decision. “We are still in the early days of deciding how to launch a lower priced, ad-supported option and no decisions have been made,” they said. “So this is all just speculation.”
In July, Netflix reported a loss of 1 million subscribers for the second quarter of 2022, its second quarter of loss of subscribers. Chief operations and product officer Greg Peters said Netflix wanted to “provide an incredible experience for consumers … who choose to take the ad-supported offering, but also provide an incredible experience for brands and advertisers who want to work with us to make sure that we’re doing a good job of elevating what that looks like for them”.
He said he was optimistic that advertising on Netflix can “deliver an experience which is fundamentally different from the ad experience” on broadcast or cable television today. The launch would focus on countries where there were “more mature ad markets,” Peters said.
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