Netflix Ad Tier Launches Today In Eight Countries: What to Know
03.11.2022 - 14:53
/ deadline.com
Today brings a major milestone in the streaming business, as Netflix introduces its new advertising-backed subscription tier in eight countries.
At 9 a.m. PT, the Basic With Ads plan will go live in the U.S., UK, Australia, Japan, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy and South Korea. It has already lit up in Canada and Mexico, and Spain will follow on November 10. Pricing varies by region, but at $6.99 a month in the U.S. the plan is toward the low end of the streaming spectrum, a dollar cheaper than Disney’s forthcoming tier with ads and less than half of the most popular option, which costs $15.49.
One initial focus with the rollout will be the programming mix. Having built a powerhouse of streaming on the premise of an ad-free experience for both consumers and creators, it isn’t possible for Netflix to simply throw the switch and have all titles available both with and without ads. Instead, the move has required a months-long process of obtaining rights and revising contracts. The company’s chief operating officer and product chief, Greg Peters, described the 5% to 10% of programming that will be missing at launch as “a small minority of viewing.”
What makes it and what doesn’t is “all based on deals,” Peters said, “so it’s not a specific studio. It’s mostly about what the state of the deal was and, again, we’ll work to reduce that number over time.”
Basic with Ads features four to five minutes of ads per hour, with both series and feature films being interrupted by spots. New movies coming to the service — notably marquee originals like Knives Out 2 — “will just have a pre-roll” of spots before the feature plays without interruption, Peters said. “We’ll try to preserve that sort of cinematic model there,” consistent how