Netflix launched its ad-tier subscription model in Australia on Friday.
The new pricing gives consumers the option of a cheaper monthly fee with advertisements playing before and during shows and films.
At $6.99 a month, ‘Basic with Ads’ will feature four to five ads at 15 or 30 seconds in length for every hour of viewing and is $4 cheaper than the ‘Basic’ offering at $10.99.
Netflix kicked off the new subscription tier launch in Canada and Mexico on November 1, the Courier Mail reported.
This was followed by Australia, the US, the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Japan and South Korea on November 4. Spain will follow suit on November 10.
On a global conference call in October, Netflix’s chief operating officer and chief product officer Greg Peters confirmed the start of a new Netflix subscriber tier.
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In the call, Peters explained: “What stays the same: A wide variety of great TV shows and movies; personalised viewing experience; a wide range of TV and mobile devices; change or cancel your plan at any time.
“What’s different: Video quality up to 720p/HD (now for both our Basic with Ads and Basic plans); an average of 4 to 5 minutes of ads per hour; a limited number of movies and TV shows won’t be available due to licensing restrictions, which we’re working on; no ability to download titles.
“In short, Basic with Ads is everything people love about Netflix at a lower price, with a few ads in between. Starting in November, signing up will be easy – visit Netflix.com and register with your email, date of birth and gender to get started.”
The new offering provides advertisers with an opportunity to reach a wider diverse audience who are increasingly not watching linear TV, Peters noted in the call.
“To help advertisers reach the right audience and ensure our ads are more relevant for consumers, we’ll offer broad targeting capabilities by country and genre (e.g. action, drama, romance, sci-fi). Advertisers will also be able to prevent their ads from appearing on content that might be inconsistent with their brand (e.g. sex, nudity or graphic violence).”
Greg Peters
Regarding verification tools, Peters explained: “We have partnerships with DoubleVerify and Integral Ad Science to verify the viewability and traffic validity of our ads starting in Q1 2023.”
Peter said: “The switch from linear is happening at an ever-increasing speed, with streaming now surpassing free-to-air and pay TV in the US.
“We’re confident that with Netflix starting at $6.99 per month, we now have a price and plan for every fan,” he said.
“While it’s still very early days, we’re pleased with the interest from both consumers and the advertising community and couldn’t be more excited about what’s ahead. As we learn from and improve the experience, we expect to launch in more countries over time,” he added.
