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ad-supported tier had reached 15 million active users per month, a year after the streaming giant launched the cheaper plan to revive subscriber growth and revenue following a slowdown.The company had five million monthly ad-tier users in May and has been hiking prices on its ad-free options in an effort to nudge more subscribers to the other tier, where commercials help bring in more revenue per user.Netflix increased subscription prices for some streaming plans in the United States, Britain, and France last month, after its third-quarter subscriber additions of 9 million shattered Wall Street expectations of 6 million.After resisting commercials for years, Netflix had a change of heart in April 2022 after it lost subscribers in the first quarter of the year.A month after Netflix’s ad-plan launch last year, rival Disney+ also rolled out its ad version in an attempt to push its streaming business into profitability.Streaming services such as HBO Max, Paramount+ and Peacock also offer ad-supported versions of their services, emulating the business model that has long supported the television business.Amazon’s Prime Video will next year join its streaming rivals in rolling out ads and introducing a higher-priced ad-free tier.Netflix said during its third-quarter results that the adoption of its ads plan, which costs $6.99 per month in the US, continued to grow with membership up almost 70% sequentially.

Netflix’s 250 million subscribers may think of the company primarily as a TV and movie streaming service, 99 percent of them are missing out on a major perk.In recent years, Netflix has branched out into the video games industry.The company has acquired a number of gaming studios, including industry titan Night School Studios, which developed the Oxenfree games.Oxenfree 2 was developed exclusively for Netflix, and yet the streaming platform’s games push is yet to be picked up by subscribers in earnest.In fact, while every Netflix subscription comes with a games library accessed via the Netflix mobile app, it’s unclear how many subscribers even know that the games exist.The library of more than 70 games can be found in the “Mobile Games” row on the Netflix app home screen.It includes award-winning titles including Immortality, Kentucky Route Zero and Before Your Eyes, all of which can be downloaded to mobile and played at no extra cost to subscribers.There are also games to complement popular shows, including ones inspired by Squid Game, Black Mirror and reality TV.But the games feature is little-used, with a report from CNBC revealing just 2.2 million Netflix subscribers — about 0.88 percent — play one of the streamer’s games daily.The stats indicated retention was a problem, with more than 70 million subscribers having downloaded a game at some point and mostly failing to become repeat users.That could be because, while viewers can watch a few minutes of a TV show or movie to get a taste, games require a download and larger time investment.Netflix continues to throw money and resources at the endeavour, with the number of games on the app having tripled in the past year.According to Co-CEO Greg Peters, the streaming

profitable major streamer, Netflix has resisted joining rivals like Walt Disney in hiking ad-free prices this year and instead curbed password-sharing outside households to tap the more than 100 million viewers who use its service without subscribing.“Netflix now closely resembles a utility in many markets,” analysts at Bernstein said. “The challenge of being labeled a utility is how a maturing company continues finding growth.”It could hike prices after the end of the Hollywood actors strike, a media report said earlier in October.Five months after calling a strike that plunged Hollywood into turmoil, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) last week approved a new contract with major studios.Netflix, however, has weathered the strike well thanks to its larger international presence and strong content slate.After a slow start for the ad plan launched last year, analysts said they expect Netflix will raise prices of its ad-free options in the coming months to nudge more subscribers to the other tier, where commercials help bring in more revenue per user.So far, most viewers subscribing to Netflix after the password crackdown have opted for the ad-free plans, analysts said.

meal kits, fine wine and beauty product delivery services — there are now clothing subscription boxes that range from monthly curated selections to fashion rentals that keep your closet always on trend without ever visiting the mall. Browse our picks below, sorted by women’s, men’s and children’s monthly clothing box delivery options for everyone in the family.

HBO Max, CBS All Access, Disney+ and Peacock Premium, NBCUniversal’s ad-free streaming service. But as Disney gained more subscribers, it stopped offering free trials altogether in June.Prior to winding down free trials in the US, Netflix had begun phasing out free trials elsewhere in the world, starting in Mexico two years ago.