No account sharing, ads, limited library of titles… Streaming services are experimenting with new solutions that are supposed to increase their profits. summed up the first half of the year and has conclusions that will not please users.
Netflix is ending its cheapest ad-free subscription
Cheaper, but with ads, or more expensive, but without ads – this will soon be the reality on the Netflix platform in Poland as well. The changes are being implemented not only in the United States and Great Britain. They have reached continental Europe. Last Thursday, during the announcement of the half-year summary, Netflix announced that the cheapest ad-free subscription package will also be phased out in France, as we read in . This means that these changes are also coming to Poland.
In our country, Netflix has so far stuck to its subscription plans from two years ago. The ad-supported service has not yet been introduced in Poland, although it is already in force in 12 countries around the world – unofficially, it is said that it will be included in the second half of 2024. The next steps are to close the possibility of purchasing the cheapest ad-free subscription for new users (a solution already proven in the USA, among others), and then to offer users remaining in the cheapest ad-free package an “upgrade” to a slightly more expensive and still ad-free one, or a “downgrade” to a cheaper one, but with ads and a limited library.
Viewers in the United States will have a choice of three subscription plans. The cheapest (advertising) is priced at $6.99 per month (PLN 27.50, slightly less than the current cheapest package in Poland). Without ads, users can choose one of two packages – standard at $15.49 and premium for $22.99 (PLN 61 and PLN 90, respectively). The package for $11.99 (PLN 47) is being phased out.
Netflix braces for slowdown
The changes announced last Thursday in some Netflix markets are the result of predictions about the company’s financial results for the coming quarters. Netflix expects a slowdown in the number of new users in the coming months. In the second quarter, the platform gained as many as eight million new subscriptions, and it also enjoys the undiminished greatest interest from users in terms of the competition, leaving HBO and Disney+ far behind. However, the boom is coming to an end, because those who were supposed to buy a subscription due to the ban on account sharing have already done so. Hence the idea of phasing out the cheapest package without ads, also for users who still use it – they will probably not want to use the cheaper, advertising option.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
