Netflix’s ad-supported plan gives you a lower monthly subscription cost in exchange for occasional commercial breaks. It’s a reasonable option for people looking to cut their streaming service bills, but now Netflix is making it harder to avoid by dropping the ad-free Basic plan in the United States and United Kingdom. Netflix impossible impossibe
Netflix’s plans and pricing support page in the United States and United Kingdom no longer lists the “Basic” plan, which was $9.99 per month in the US or £6.99 per month in the UK. That plan was the cheapest option for watching Netflix without any advertisements, though you were limited to one screen at a time and only HD (720p) quality. The ads plan still costs $6.99 per month, and supports 1080p on two screens at once. If you don’t want to watch ads, the next option is the Standard plan, which costs $15.49 per month. Remember, you also can’t share your Netflix account with friends or family outside your home for free anymore — starting earlier this year, that’s another $7.99 per month.
Netflix already removed the Basic plan in Canada, so it was likely the same change would roll out in other countries. That doesn’t make it any less irritating, though. Thankfully, if you have the Basic plan right now, you can keep it until you cancel your subscription or change plans.
The ad-supported plan has been a tremendous success for Netflix’s bottom line. The company said back in January that the ad-supported plan caused a surge of new sign-ups, and 64% of those new subscriptions were people where former subscribers returning to Netflix. More importantly, Netflix was generating more revenue from users on the ad-supported plan than the basic plan without ads. It turns out, ads make more money than no ads.
Netflix’s Q2 earnings report is due later today, so the company might talk about the change in detail around that time. One thing is for sure, though – after 16 years, Netflix is running out of people in the world who want a Netflix subscription, so the only remaining option is to extract more revenue from its existing customers. As long as Netflix is a publicly-traded company, continuous growth is the most important goal.
Source: Cord Busters
Via: The Verge
