Netflix with Ads is growing and growing fast.
Netflix launched its $6.99 per month “Basic with Ads” ad-supported plan last November. The concept is the same as any other streaming service that offers an ad-supported tier — subscribers get access to most of the same content but have to deal with the occasional ad when they are watching a television show or movie.
Despite the plan being Netflix, but with ads, almost 5 million people have already signed up for that tier of service, according to a blog post by the company. Netflix says that the number of people subscribed to the Basic with Ads tier has already doubled from earlier this year and that over a quarter of new customers are choosing the ad-supported tier when it is available.
That’s pretty impressive, especially since that tier of service has only been available for 6 months now. Not that it’s surprising, though. Netflix has continued to get more expensive over the years. I’m personally paying for the Family plan that streams content in 4K and HDR and it already costs $20 a month.
Honestly, I’m having second thoughts about paying to rid ads from my life. Don’t get me wrong — ads generally suck, and no one usually wants to see them. But, I’m not watching Netflix all of the time — despite what Netflix says — so do I really need to pay a ton more every month for the privilege?
I’m sure Netflix would be fine with me falling back into their new ads plan, too. Apparently, the company actually makes more money off of customers subscribed to the ad-supported tier as opposed to the ad-free ones, so it would be a win for the company for anyone who made the switch. Maybe it’ll be better to save some money and join the symbiotic relationship that Netflix has offered me. We’ll see.
It might actually be a good time to try out ad-supported plans. Warner Bros. Discovery has committed to showing the “lightest” amount of ads in comparison to other streaming services when Max launches later this month. We may be in a new era where the race to the least amount of ads, while showing ads, is happening. That’s good for all of us.
