Netflix will launch its ad-supported tier in November, report claims

Netflix‘s upcoming ad-supported tier will be launching sooner than anticipated, reports reveal. 

According to insider sources, Netflix will launch the new tier on November 1 in multiple countries, including the UK, the US, Canada, France and Germany. 

While it remains unclear how much the new ad-supported version will cost, it will be cheaper than the lowest-priced ad-free tier (Basic), which costs £6.99 a month in the UK and $9.99 in the US. 

Netflix had originally said it would launch adverts in 2023, but it’s allegedly brought this date forward due to dwindling subscriber numbers. 

It also wants to introduce ads before streaming rival Disney+ releases its own ad-supported tier in the US on December 8. 

It’s already known that Netflix has been working with Microsoft on its first subscription tier that has adverts, but until now, the release date has remained unclear. 

Wall Street Journal and Variety both reported on the news of the release date, with the latter attributing ‘industry sources who have been briefed on the streamer’s plans’. 

Netflix is also reportedly charging brands ‘premium prices’ to advertise on its platform, taking advantage of strong interest from advertisers to plug its products to Netflix’s wide audience. 

Netflix is charging advertisers roughly $65 (£56) for reaching 1,000 viewers, which is substantially higher than most other streaming platforms. 

Netflix declined to comment to MailOnline about the reports. 

Since its inception 15 years ago, Netflix has refused to include commercials in any of its offerings, but that has all changed as of this year. 

In April, Netflix announced it would abandon its resistance to ads after disclosing it had lost 200,000 subscribers globally during the first three months of the year. 

At the time, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings revealed in an earnings call that the platform would introduce ads in the ‘next year or two’. 

Then in May, Netflix told its employees that it would introduce ads sooner than expected – by the end of the year, The New York Times revealed. 

‘Yes, it’s fast and ambitious and it will require some trade-offs,’ Netflix said in a a note to employees, seen by The New York Times.

‘Every major streaming company excluding Apple has or has announced an ad-supported service. For good reason, people want lower-priced options.’ 

In July, Netflix announced that it had lost nearly 1 million subscribers in the second quarter of the year – almost five times the amount lost in the first quarter.  

In a letter to shareholders at the time, Netflix said it would launch a new subscription tier with adverts in early 2023, starting with ‘the handful of markets where advertising spend is significant’.

This was even though it had reportedly told its employees that ads would arrive by late 2022. 

The Los Gatos, California streaming firm hasn’t announced how much the new ad-supported version will cost, although it will be cheaper than the lowest-priced ad-free tier (Basic), which costs £6.99 a month. 

But it won’t be free, meaning customers will have to endure ads on top of paying a monthly subscription price.  

What’s more, the new ad tier won’t have access to Netflix’s entire content library, co-CEO Ted Sarandos revealed in July. 

‘Today, the vast majority of what people watch on Netflix, we can include in the ad-supported tier,’ Sarandos said at the time. 

‘There are some things that don’t – that we’re in conversation about with the studios on – but if we launched the product today, the members in the ad tier would have a great experience.

‘We will clear some additional content, but certainly not all of it, but we don’t think it’s a material holdback to the business.’  

BBC-produced content could be excluded from the tier, because the BBC isn’t allowed to have ads supporting its programmes due to the licence fee. 

Last month, code noticed in Netflix’s iPhone app by Steve Moser suggests the ad tier will also block the ability to download content. 

‘Downloads available on all plans except Netflix with ads,’ according to text in the app, which Moser shared with Bloomberg. 

The code also suggests that users won’t be able to skip ads, and playback controls won’t be available during ad breaks, Moser added.  

If the November 1 launch date is correct, more details about the ad tier are likely to be officially revealed in the next few weeks, such as pricing and when exactly ads will start playing during the user experience. 

It’s possible ads may appear only when content starts and ends, or they could be played at various intervals throughout the film or TV show’s entire duration. 

Netflix users who are subscribed to the Basic, Standard or Premium tiers won’t see any ads, although it’s likely these tiers will see more price hikes in the near future.  

Netflix’s streaming rival Disney+ is also releasing its own ad-supported subscription tier for US viewers on December 8 and for viewers in other markets next year. 

In the US, Disney+ currently costs $7.99 per month, but this will be the price of the new ad-supported tier when it arrives. 

Meanwhile, the existing Disney+ tier that doesn’t have ads will increase $3 a month, from $7.99 to a hefty $10.99.

As Disney+ is £7.99 a month in the UK, it’s believed that the UK price will similarly go up by £3 a month when the new ad tier arrives. 

Disney+ has a bevvy of hugely-popular and extensive content libraries, including Star Wars, Marvel and Disney films, as well as The Simpsons and some exclusive series, including the eight hour-long Beatles documentary.