Netflix has gone and done it: the streaming company is axing its cheapest ad-free subscription plan.
The tier, which costs $11.99 a month, will soon be unavailable to users in Canada and the UK within the second quarter of the year. Company executives informed shareholders of the decision in its earnings report dated January 23.
Subscribers will be left with the platform’s other ad-free plan, which is priced at $15.49/month. The company’s Premium tier is priced at $22.99/month. Others can opt for an ad-supported subscription at $6.99/month.
Following Canada and the UK, the plan will likely be retired in other places: “We’re looking to retire our Basic plan in some of our ads countries, starting with Canada and the UK in Q2 and taking it from there,” reads the report.
Netflix’s plans to phase out its basic plan has been in the works for a while now. New viewers in Canada were unable to sign up for the Basic plan as of June 2023, with the same being applied to the US and UK by July.
The company’s co-CEO Greg Peters told investors in a video interview that Netflix’s ad-supported tier is at 23 million monthly active users. During the final quarter of 2023, Netflix also added 13.1 million subscribers, elevating their subscription numbers to 247 million globally.
