Last month, Netflix announced that they will soon be imposing extra charges on users who share their passwords with people outside their house. This new feature, along with one other will soon be launched in Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru for a test run.
Now, talking to investors and analysts, the company’s CEO Reed Hastings has stated that the platform would be open to exploring the potential that advertisement-based viewing plans, that would be cheaper for users to subscribe to, in a bid to get the service to reach more users. The statement comes after Netflix recorded a loss in subscriber base for the first time in over a decade.
Hastings told the analysts that the current market has made the company rethink its strategies and how it wants its users to experience the platform. The CEO made it clear that he doesn’t prefer the “complexity of advertisement” over the “simplicity of subscription,” However, he does realize that Netflix already reaches a high number of households within its target audience, and to grow beyond this, the platform needs to make some changes.
The company is betting on the cheaper ad-supported plan to be this change for them, which will drive their users beyond the current ceiling. The plans, however, are not ready yet, and Hastings states that it will take up to two years for them to materialize. It remains to be seen if the users will be interested in watching ads even after paying a subscription fee to the platform. Another thing that remains to be seen is how intrusive the adverts for Netflix will be. Will users experience ad breaks while watching shows or movies, or will Netflix bake them into the UI too? Will there be a skip button after a certain amount of time?
What do you think of this decision? would you be interested in buying a Netflix subscription that costs less but comes with ads? let us know in the comments below.
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