The first quarter of 2022 produced worrying data for Netflixthat lost 200,000 subscribers, and the most worrying thing is that it was the first time in ten years that this had happened. From the first moment, the company announced a plan of measures that, among other things, would include the inclusion of advertising. The situation required urgent action so the platform stepped on the accelerator and in May said that the measures would arrive before the end of 2022. And this is how on November 10 from 5:00 p.m. it will be available in 12 countries, including Spain, the Basic plan with ads which is added to the existing options: Basic, Standard and Premium.
The new service will have a cost of 5.49 euros in Spain and will also arrive in Germany, Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Korea, Spain, the United States, France, Italy, Japan, Mexico and the United Kingdom. The platform has explained that the plan will have a wide variety of series and movies, although they have also said that, due to licensing restrictions, there will be “a limited number of series and movies” that will not be available. The rest of the content will have an average of between 4 and 5 minutes of ads for each hour at the beginning and in the middle of the visit. In addition, there will be no possibility to download the content and the video quality will be up to 720p/HD (for both the Basic Plan and the Basic with ads). That yes, the platform has not made any comment yet to another of the controversial measures that were proposed, that of monetize the exchange of passwords with people who do not live together.
The data leaves no doubt, streaming is booming and, in the United States, already surpasses free and cable television. This makes it an attractive market for advertisers and the option of advertising has become an opportunity for companies to make profitable a business that, as many recognize, was not being productive.
With this announcement, Netflix is ahead of its competition both in the inclusion of advertising and in price. Since no other platform is going to have such a low price, even including advertising. Disney + already announced this summer for the United States an option with ads and presumably this new rate will be extended to other territories although there is no confirmation. This plan contemplates that the cheapest option maintains the price and will include advertising, However, those who do not want to see ads will benefit from the Premium rate, which will see its price increased by around 37%., up to $10.99. It is not known at the moment if this rise will affect Spain, although it is true that in our country the price has also risen. When it arrived, it started costing 6.99 euros per month and went to 8.99 with the integration of the FOX catalog through Star. In the case of hbo max, a price hike is also coming, as Warner (now Warner Bros Discovery) warned in September. The measure, in principle, will affect the United States and is scheduled for 2023 due to the merger with the Discovery+ platform.
