Netflix reveals ad tier cost and release date

Netflix’s pivot to ads is happening a lot sooner than anticipated. Initially planned to roll out during the “early part of 2023,” Netflix’s long-anticipated (or, to some, long-feared) ad-supported tier will become available in November, the streamer announced Thursday. It’ll cost $7 a month.

The plan is officially called Basic with ads and will be offered in twelve countries, including Australia, Brazil (Canada), France, Germany, Italy, Japan Korea, Mexico, Spain, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. Ads will be shown every four to five minutes at an average of 15-30 seconds. Another way to put it: You can sit and watch an entire episode. SandmanThat means you could be forced to sit through 20 advertisements.

This plan has some restrictions. Video quality tops out at 720p — a far cry lower than the 4K resolution available with the $20 plan. Plus, some programming won’t be available. Greg Peters, chief operating officer of Netflix, stated that Netflix libraries are different from one region to the next. However, it is estimated that between five and ten percent of Netflix’s library will not be available to subscribers to the Basic with Ads plan.

Netflix’s adoption of an ad-based model follows in the footsteps of the competition. Hulu already has advertisements, currently in the $8/month tier. WarnerMedia introduced an advertising-supported tier in HBO Max in 2021 ($10/month). Netflix will also air ads before, and notably after, the streamers. DuringMovies and TV programs. Fingers crossed that Basic with Ads won’t also do the HBO Max strategy of playing advertisements at the worst possible moments of high-tension scenes.