Advertising on Netflix – and then you don’t even get all the series

Netflix will introduce an advertising-financed subscription model to keep the monthly price down. But the cheap Netflix is ​​late. On top of that, it now appears that advertising subscribers will probably have to do without a few real highlights.

Advertising on Netflix: cheap subscription starts in 2023

Netflix is ​​struggling and is looking for a way out of the crisis: since the beginning of 2022, the number of customers has been declining for the first time in the history of the streaming veteran and is currently at a new low. In order to continue to flush money into the coffers – and superficially cheap entry-level offer to have ready – the freedom of advertising on Netflix will soon come to an end.

At least for subscribers who would rather put up with commercial breaks than pay high monthly fees. However, the cheap advertising subscription comes later than expected, as Netflix co-boss Ted Sarandos has now confirmed. So far, the industry has assumed that the start is still planned for 2022. Instead, the new stage only available from 2023 be.

For customers, there is also a major setback: Because Netflix will probably cannot offer all content from the “normal” price levels in the advertising version. The current licenses with film studios are said to be to blame for this.

Netflix can do what you want with its own productions, such as Stranger Things. They can be shown overnight with a promotional subscription. It looks different with third-party productions: currently successful series such as You (Warner Bros.), Matryoshka (universal) or Cobra Kai (Sony), whose studios must agree to a release in the ad-supported model. But also classics like Breaking Bad are on the brink (source: Engadget).

There are cheaper streaming alternatives than Netflix, here is a big comparison:

Netflix boss sure: advertising subscription will be a slimmed-down version

Netflix theoretically has a little longer to do this. However, those responsible cannot currently guarantee that everything that subscribers are currently seeing on Netflix will also make it into the new, affordable version. If a studio gets in the way, Netflix has no choice.

These problems are unlikely to go down well with those interested in the subscription model. According to Sarandos, it will be possible to offer “some more content” than previously set, “but certainly not all”. So, in terms of choice, Netflix is ​​forced to do that demoting the subscription model to second-class Netflix.