American subscription-based streaming service Netflix, starting in November, will finally roll out its new ad-supported tier for just a few bucks a month.
According to The Verge, this announcement is yet another sign that the one-time disruptive upstart streaming service has slowly become a cable package by another name.
The company announced that its new Basic with Ads tier plan will be available for USD 6.99 on November 3, 2022, in the United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
The Verge reported that in exchange for making users watch an average of four to five minutes of ads per hour, the Basic with Ads plan gives subscribers access to a large portion of Netflix's programming.
However, not the full catalogue will be available as a small selection of television shows and movies will not be available to Basic with Ads subscribers due to licensing restrictions that Netflix says it's currently working on.
Each Netflix advertisement will last between 15 and 30 seconds and will appear before and during programmes. Basic with Ads subscribers will also be unable to download content to their devices, and video quality will be limited to 720p / HD, reported The Verge.
During a press conference announcing the new tier, Netflix described it as "pro-consumer" and explained how its internal content tagging teams were tasked with finding natural breakpoints in various shows and films to place commercials in.
Netflix's ad tier arrives in response to a sudden slump for the streamer, which lost over 1 million subscribers in the US and Canada earlier this year and has seen its stock price plunge in response to investor concerns that its period of rapid growth has ended, as per The Verge.
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