Reports from earlier this week suggested Netflix's plans to roll out an ad-supported streaming plan were all but put in place, but the company has instead denied such claims, calling them mere speculative conjectures.
According to a report published by Deadline, a spokesperson from Netflix fired back against the information published by The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg, which indicated that the budget-friendly option could make its debut in November, with pricing in the region of $7-9 for the service’s “standard” subscription. The source says Netflix is still at a very early stage of the decision-making process that would enable an ad-supported alternative, and that “no decisions have been made” so far, labeling such reports as “just speculation."
While both articles lacked assurance on when Netflix would have made the lower-cost plan available, the Wall Street Journal spoke of a November 1 release. That would have meant Netflix could have leapfrogged Disney's own strategy to debut a budget version of Disney Plus in December that for now would price the same as the standard plan. Regardless of that, the Netflix representative did not dismiss information contained in the same article that pointed to the streaming giant already negotiating with potential ad buyers, with said meeting allegedly serving as the leak for the story.
All things said, the new development also doesn’t rule out the possibility that Netflix's ad-supported tier could finally make its debut in 2023. This is the time frame executives originally estimated when the first report of such plans was revealed in July. Another key aspect that was not challenged by the spokesperson is how the ad-supported bracket would operate, with most claims suggesting it could be 4-minutes of ad time per each hour of viewing.
Even if Netflix's stock market corrections and the company’s crisis have perhaps been overplayed to some extent, it bears saying that, alongside Hulu, this is the only streamer currently in the green, as not even its fiercest competitor, Disney Plus, has projections to become fully profitable until 2024. Netflix's current problem is figuring out how to extract more growth out of the market, as that is what essentially makes investors happy, and thus grants the company more cash flow.
The biggest game changer for Netflix has been seeing key content like The Office, Friends, and others depart its platform at the same time it’s struggled to produce enough originals that make a Netflix subscription an absolute necessity. In any case, Arcane, The Sandman, Cobra Kai, and The Witcher remain a decent enough lineup.
Source: Deadline