Ads arrive on Netflix on Thursday, November 3, as the streaming service has finally shared the key details on what the new Netflix with ads tier is going to be like. Details include the price of what is now going to be the cheapest option for the streaming service, what regions are getting the ad tier and just how many ads viewers can expect to see while they’re watching.
Officially dubbed Basic with Ads, the Netflix ad tier cost starts off at $6.99 per month in the US. While the ad-supported package will be available in 12 countries starting November 3 at 9 am PT (Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Spain and the UK), pricing for countries outside of the US was not immediately available. Though for reference, the UK's current monthly price for its Basic plan is £6.99 per month, so we can guess it's going to be lower than that.
The $6.99 per month price is $3 cheaper than the Netflix Basic plan, which currently runs for $9.99 per month. In its announcement of the Basic with Ads plan details, Netflix was sure to point out that the introduction of this new ad-tier won't impact current plans or members; if you’re signed up for Basic, Standard or Premium plans, you’ll still have those and without ads.
Actually, there is one change to the Basic plan, but it would seem to be a good one. Both Basic and Basic with Ads are going to offer 720p/HD video quality now, which is up from the SD (standard definition) quality that the Basic plan previously had.
Now, on to the big question — how many ads can subscribers expect to see? According to Netflix, there will be an average of four to five minutes of ads per hour that play before and during movies and TV shows. With ads expected to be between 15 and 30 seconds each, that shakes out a minimum of eight (four minutes of all 30 second ads) and a maximum of 20 (five minutes of all 15 second ads) ads per hour, with the norm probably somewhere in the middle.
Other new details to know about the Basic with Ads plan: a limited number of TV shows and movies won’t be available due to licensing restrictions, though Netflix says they’re working to resolve that; and there is no ability to download titles for offline viewing.
All that aside, Netflix says that Basic with Ads plan will still offer (most of) the streaming service’s library of TV shows and movies. Subscribers will maintain the option to change or cancel their subscription plan at any time.
Subscribers can sign up for the Netflix Basic with Ads plan starting November 3 the same way they would sign up for a current Netflix subscription through Netflix.com.
Netflix announced it was launching an ad tier earlier in 2022 after suffering a drop in global subscribers. It’s not the only major streaming platform adding an ad-supported tier after not previously having one, as a Disney Plus ad version is also on the way. Netflix, however, is both launching their ad tier earlier (Disney Plus is expected in December) and at a cheaper price (Disney Plus ad-tier is reportedly going to be $7.99).
Just about all of the other major streaming services have ad tiers, including Hulu, HBO Max, Paramount Plus and Peacock. The lone holdout at this point is Apple TV Plus.
