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Netflix has announced that its ad-supported tier will go live on November 3. And it’ll cost $7 in the US, $6 in Canada and £5 in the UK.
This new plan is being called “Basic with Ads”. So basically, you’re getting the current Netflix Basic Plan, but now you’ll get ads. Netflix is claiming that you’ll only see 4-5 minutes of ads per hour of streaming. That’s far less than regular TV, which typically has 15-20 minutes of ads per hour. Netflix also notes that some movies and shows won’t be available on this plan, due to licensing restrictions.
Finally, streaming on the Basic with Ads plan will be limited to 720p resolution.
These ads will be targeted
Netflix has also said that these ads are going to be targeted by country and genre of content being streamed. Which should give advertisers a higher return on investment here. Advertisers will also be allowed to keep their ads from showing up on content that doesn’t fit their brand.
The ads themselves should be about 15 or 30 seconds in length. And will play before and during movies and shows. Microsoft will be serving up the ads, which is using the Xander ad-tech tool that it bought from AT&T not too long ago.
The other big change here is that the Basic plan is being bumped up to 720p. Which means there is now no plan that is less than HD. The regular Basic plan will still start at $9.99 per month. With the Standard costing $15.49 per month, and premium going for $19.99 per month.
It’s a cheaper plan, but are the trade-offs worth it? That’s the real question with this new ad-supported tier from Netflix. Especially since not everything is going to be available on this plan. However, all of its original content should be available, as Netflix owns the majority of that stuff.