Netflix’s ad-supported tier arrives next month and costs $6.99/£4.99
Netflix’s newest plan – Basic with Ads – will be rolling out in the US, the UK, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico and Spain from3 November 2022.
The new plan will cost $6.99/£4.99 per month. For reference, the current Netflix Basic plan costs $9.99/£6.99 per month, so customers can save a total of $36/£24 across an entire year if they opt for this plan. None of the current plans – Basic, Standard and Premium – will be replaced.
The differences between this tier and the ad-free ones are:
Ads will play both before and during a film or show, and Netflix has guaranteed that ads will have “broad targeting capabilities by country and genre”. They will also be appropriate for different age groups – so adverts for families will not appear on content with graphic violence or nudity, for example.
In addition, from November Netflix will upgrade the quality of Basic streaming to 720p/HD – previously this was capped at 480p/SD. This is the same quality that Basic with Ads will have. Users will also not have simultaneous streams available.
Netflix has no penalties for cancelling orswitching plans, so you can upgrade or downgrade at your leisure – or cancel for several months if you’re waiting for something specific to release. With many households in the US and UK looking to save money during the cost-of-living crisis, this plan may be a viable option.
However, for customers who aren’t used to ads, this may be a hard sell. Netflix is looking to make this work amid avery rocky financial year, and is also hoping to crack down onpassword sharingto gain more revenue.
You can see how Netflix compares to rivals in our list of thebest TV streaming services. We also have roundups for thebest TV showsandfilms on Netflixright now.
Author: Hannah Cowton-Barnes, Entertainment Editor, Tech Advisor
As Tech Advisor’s Entertainment Editor, Hannah is the resident expert in all things streaming, film and TV. Before joining Tech Advisor in 2019, she studied Theatre and Performance at the University of Leeds and created a website dedicated to geek culture and lifestyle. She’s also reviewed a whole range of gadgets including flagship smartphones, wearables and styling tools. Outside of Foundry, she’s written freelance pieces for Polygon, Metro and Den of Geek, and is proud to be a Women Techmakers Ambassador for Google.
