Feeling the pinch? Well, the truth is, Netflix is as well.
The streaming giant lost almost a million subscribers globally between April and July — reportedly its first audience loss since 2011 — as households respond to soaring inflation and the streaming market toughens.
With so many premium services vying for subscribers and Disney+ entering the market for pay-monthly customers, Netflix has decided to shake things up in a bid to lure people to sign up or return.
The US mega platform — which was forced to cut jobs after losing customers — had prided itself on having ad-free viewing.
But it has decided to reverse that thinking by offering viewers a cheaper deal, caveated by the fact they will have the slight inconvenience of having to watch commercials.
What is Netflix Basics With Ads?
Netflix will offer UK subscribers the chance to watch programmes for £4.99 per month, with four-to-five minutes of adverts thrown in for every hour of viewing.
That means TV-fans can get Netflix originals such as The Crown, Stranger Things and films like The Fundamentals of Caring and Don’t Look Up at a more budget offering.
The deal will be available from November 3 at 4pm for those interested in the price-cut offer.
The firm said the idea is that adverts will be 15 or 30 seconds in length, with the breaks playing before and during series and films.
How does the Netflix advert package compare with what is already on offer?
The current cheapest UK Netflix deal is £6.99 a month, with subscribers on the “basic” deal allowed to watch on one device at a time.
To upgrade to HD and be permitted to stream on two devices, the “standard” package then jumps to £10.99.
For those in a busy multi-screen household, a “premium” subscription will set you back £15.99 per month.
That bags viewers Ultra HD for bingeing and allows streaming to be done simultaneously on four devices at a time.
All three tiers went up in price in April, with the basic and standard offering put up by £1, and the premium subscription rising by £2.
For standard and premium payers, it was the second time in 18 months that their packages had been put up in price.
As well as the UK, the Basics With Adverts offer will be available in 11 other countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Spain and the US.
What restrictions does Netflix Basic With Ads have?
The lower price comes with a series of restrictions, on top of the arrival of advertisements.
Netflix said the new budget tier would have video quality of up to 720p/HD.
Its decision to put its Basic deal onto HD as well means the offering is only slightly worse than those on a standard deal —and those customers are paying £6 more for the privilege.
With the Basic With Ads, there will be no ability to download titles.
And, at least for the initial stages of the offer, a “limited number of films and TV series won't be available due to licensing restrictions”, Netflix said.
The service said it was working to change that, however.
Customers will still be able to cancel or change plans whenever they want, like they currently can.
Greg Peters, chief operating officer at Netflix, said: “Basic with Adverts will launch just six months after we first announced the option of a lower priced adverts tier.
“We’re confident that with Netflix starting at £4.99 a month, we now have a price and plan for every fan.
“While it’s still very early days, we’re pleased with the interest from both consumers and the advertising community and couldn’t be more excited about what’s ahead.
“As we learn from and improve the experience, we expect to launch in more countries over time.”
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