Netflix is planning to introduce a lower-priced tier that includes ads. They want to do this in the last three months of the year and they are also researching password sharing among their subscribers to make a better profit. This left the industry shocked as Netflix formerly committed to not having commercials on the streaming platform again. Looks like they changed their minds.
As of last month, Netflix said that it lost 200,000 subscribers. They’re expecting to lose two million more in the next couple of months. Their stock shares have dropped significantly. Netflix’s co-chief executive Reed Hastings said that they are considering advertising as he negotiated with the investors. One may think advertising would scare customers away, but streaming giants like HBO and Hulu had no problems doing that so far. The other company that doesn’t have ads is Apple TV. The lower-priced tier may attract consumers in watching the ads.
Netflix is thinking of building an advertising infrastructure with the company The Trade Desk where advertisers are able to put their ads on platforms that allow them to do so. David Wells of The Trade Desk has been connected with Netflix for years. In addition to this, Netflix is considering charging higher prices for subscribers who are sharing their accounts with more family and friends.
Greg Peters, Netflix’s chief operating officer, said, “So if you’ve got a sister, let’s say, that’s living in a different city — you want to share Netflix with her, that’s great. We’re not trying to shut down that sharing, but we’re going to ask you to pay a bit more to be able to share with her.”
There is a lot of money that these companies can gain from TV advertisements. Media agency Zenith predicted that advertisers will spend $65 billion to put their advertisements on television. Streaming services account for 30 percent of TV time.
For many people, including ads on Netflix has quite been a surprise, but the CEO may have something up his sleeve whether it is increasing the stock price or they have wanted to acquire ads all along. It would be tedious for some viewers who wished for an ad-free world, but to make the big bucks, some sacrifices will have to be made. Of course, if you don’t want to see any ads again, you’re gonna have to pay a little extra for that.