The company is denying the rumors which include two big factors: how much and when
Streaming’s salad days may be behind it. The market seems to have reached its saturation point in North America and many customers are more than happy to subscribe for a limited run of content they want to watch before unsubscribing. Netflix, which has poured billions into original productions and acquisitions, has been hiking prices for its subscription tiers and is hoping an excursion in cloud gaming could help augment its revenues. It’s also been toying over whether an ad-supported tier could keep more people hooked in at a lower price. Now, we’re learning just how much the company may be willing to charge for that tier and when.
Word from Bloomberg‘s sources (via Engadget) is that Netflix may charge between $7 and $9 per month for the new plan and screen up to 4 minutes of advertising per hour of streaming — compared to between 15-20 minutes on traditional television in North America — avoiding end-of-show slots. It’s implied ad inventory will be shown on a national basis as to avoid a common pet peeve for streamers: repetitive, hyper-targeted ads. As many as six countries will have access to the plan by year’s end. A wider rollout could begin early next year. Previous reporting indicates that Netflix may make only its original content available to subscribers of this tier. Subscribers would also lose out, supposedly, on offline viewing. Advertising would not appear, however, on kids’ content.
Netflix responded to the news with a statement to The Verge saying that details are “all just speculation at this point” and that no decisions have been made.
A standard Netflix subscription originally cost $10 per month and currently costs $15.49 per month. A basic plan, which doesn’t include HD resolution streaming, is $10 per month.
The company has been bleeding subscribers, but is banking on a net gain of 1 million subscribers for this quarter with the “Game of Thrones” spin-off series, “House of Dragons,” expected to draw eyeballs back to the service.
