Save a few bucks, struggle with ads
Keeping up with streaming services gets expensive, fast. Prices keep going up, and inevitably the one you’re not subscribed to will be where the next hot show debuts. In an effort to remain attractive to viewers, a growing number of these services have been looking into ad-supported offerings, letting them lower their prices and, in turn, get more subscribers on board. It’s a tactic that has been used by Hulu and HBO Max, and soon Disney+ will join their ranks, as well. Now Netflix is the latest service to confirm plans to bring ads to its platform — letting you save some cash, so long as you’re comfortable with the trade-offs.
Netflix has long been rumored to be looking into ad-supported programming, but we’ve had tons of questions about how that might ultimately work. Today the company officially announces its new “Basic with Ads” tier and starts filling in those blanks. Basic with Ads subscribers will see an average of 4 to 5 minutes of ads every hour, usually 15 to 30 seconds in length, and playing both before and during shows and films. That’s substantially less than what you’d see watching cable television.
With Netflix’s frequent price hikes, the addition of a new, cheaper tier should allow budget-conscious viewers to keep their access to the platform, along with trending shows like Stranger Things and The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. Unfortunately, Netflix is downgrading video quality for them, and the ad-supported plan will only allow streaming at up to 720p. On the plus side, the old Netflix Basic plan (which is largely the same as this one but without ads) is getting bumped up from 480p to 720p. Other restrictions for ad-supported viewers include not being able to download content, and not being able to watch some programming at all — though Netflix says it’s working on expanding access.
The ad-supported version of Netflix will cost $7 a month. For context, Hulu just went up to $8 with ads this week, and HBO Max with ads is $10. Disney+ with ads will be available on December 8th, also for $8, just in time for the service to raise its ad-free pricing to $11. In that light, Netflix’s new offering actually manages to undercut its competition — just so long as you’re willing to cope with a lack of 1080p video, support for just two simultaneous users, and having to watch a load of ads. But with the ad-free Basic plan just $10 a month, we have to wonder: is it really worth it to save $3?
If you think it is, Netflix’s new plan will be available on November 3rd.
