Netflix’s new ad-supported tier might reportedly cost between $7 (£6) and $9 (£8) per month.
According to a report from Bloomberg, the streaming giant is planning on cutting its current subscription price by half for people who are willing to endure advertisements.
The deal would mean significant savings for customers who are currently paying £6.99, £10.99 or £15.99 on one of the company’s three plans.
In July, Netflix announced that it was introducing a cheaper subscription plan with adverts.
So far Netflix offers ads-free basic, standard and premium plans. With the new plan, the company is likely to target consumers who don’t mind their binge watching interrupted by ads as long as they have to pay less.
The streaming company has always kept marketing out of its platform, relying instead on increasing the subscription cost to manage its growth.
But Netflix has had a rough year. Following reports of a loss of subscribers, the company’s share price plummeted.
So it makes sense that it’s turning to advertising to help fund a lower-priced subscription tier to lure people back.
People might have been willing to endure ads in the middle of their Netflix binges if it meant they had to pay less but they might also have to put up with losing on some features.
The streaming giant’s upcoming ad-supported plans might disable downloading shows and movies for offline viewing.
This would be a major inconvenience for people who like to download their favourite shows and movies to their devices to watch on a flight or on the tube to work.
Executives have also said that some content will be missing from the ad tier at launch.
Customers on the ad-supported plan can reportedly expect about four minutes of commercials per hour, appearing before and during some programs.
Reports point to the new tier being rolled out towards the end of the year in at least a half dozen markets. A global rollout might not happen until early next year.
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