Netflix Co-CEO Confirms Plans for Cheaper Ad-Supported Netflix Tier

[Damian83]

We might not be in court, but what I’m saying is part of the forum rules.

1. Sources. If you claim that something's a fact, back it up with a source. When evidence of your claim is requested, you can either provide evidence or retract your claim. If you can't produce evidence when someone asks you to cite your sources, we may remove your posts. If you started the thread, then we may remove or close the thread.

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Seriously? ahhahahahha
ok, i'll gather all my friends and ask them to make a video, with a hand on the bible where they swear that they share a netflix account ahhahah

 

[vipergts2207]

Seriously? ahhahahahha
ok, i'll gather all my friends and ask them to make a video, with a hand on the bible where they swear that they share a netflix account ahhahah

It’s not about the evidence specifically from your friends. Again, your little friend group is not data on why Netflix subscribers broadly pay for the premium plan. For starters, it’s not a representative sample at all. If you ask a group of college students why they subscribe to the premium plan, they might tell you it’s to share the cost with friends. If you ask a group of A/V enthusiasts, they might tell you it’s for 4K HDR. Your group of friends isn’t even an iota of a cross-section of the Netflix subscriber base.

 

[Haust]

Cancelled because of Cuties. Can’t support a platform that aired a program that very clearly sexualizes chIldren. Will never sub To Netflix ever again.

 

[Isamilis]

Realized a while ago that due to Netflix refusing to integrate with the TV App that I was never used Netflix and canceled.

Something so basic yet Netflix refuses to integrate.

Between that and the racist/groomer content this is all within Netflix’s control and yet they keep doubling down. 🤦🏼‍♂️

Hmm, my Sony television has built-in Netflix app. But, I cancelled Netflix due to its contents.

 

[Lihp8270]

Cancelled and not going back. The fact they charge extra for 4K content is a joke.

NowTV charge extra for 1080p which is the highest quality they offer. Otherwise it’s 720

 

[Isamilis]

And the content itself will inevitably get worse.

There's a thing called consumer segmentation. Currently, Netflix quality is perceived higher than the Chinese OTTs in my country by the public because they're positioned at premium pricing, and that price segment do demand better content. This is in contrast with the Chinese OTTs who focus on mass market with ad supported free tier. Their contents are mainly bottom of the barrel telenovelas/soap operas series, simply because that's what that lower market segment prefers.

It's the same basic idea of Apple vs PC OEMs like Acer. Apple doesn't offer laptops less than $1000, while Acer sells laptops down to $300-$400 price ranges. Those laptops would be considered crap by most people here, but those kinds of laptops are what can be done and demanded for that segment. This move is like Apple saying "well, we see a lot of people buying $400 laptops, so we're going to do one as well." It might sound good number wise, but it's unwise for brand and positioning.

This, I couldn’t agree more.

 

[Isamilis]

The Netflix Basic plan is 480p, the Standard plan is 1080p (HD) and the Premium plan is 4K (Ultra HD).

Another way to look at it is that they are offering 1080p as the "standard" but people can choose 480p at a discount or pay more for 4K. They're just giving customers more resolution options. $15.49/month for the standard Netflix plan is in-line with other services like HBO Max ($14.99/month ad-free). Netflix just happens to offer an optional lower tier 480p plan at a discount that the others don't.

I do think they should make simultaneous screen usage availability and resolution separate individual options i.e., you pick number of screens and then pick desired resolution.

In my country, Netflix basic plan is equal to Apple TV and still much more expensive than Disney Plus (annual).

 

[Damian83]

It’s not about the evidence specifically from your friends. Again, your little friend group is not data on why Netflix subscribers broadly pay for the premium plan. For starters, it’s not a representative sample at all. If you ask a group of college students why they subscribe to the premium plan, they might tell you it’s to share the cost with friends. If you ask a group of A/V enthusiasts, they might tell you it’s for 4K HDR. Your group of friends isn’t even an iota of a cross-section of the Netflix subscriber base.

at least "data" from people i know are REAL, and right now the only available immediately... anyway, you are free to believe analysts instead

 

[vipergts2207]

at least "data" from people i know are REAL, and right now the only available immediately... anyway, you are free to believe analysts instead

Cool, you’ve made it abundantly clear that you don’t understand the difference between data and anecdote. Clearly I’m not going to be able to teach you the difference either.

 

[bn-7bc]

I love Netflix so hope this does not degrade the service. They have done a solid job with their animation for children and it’s a hit in the home. And Black Mass was amazing.

I don't see hiw it would, they are not removing or changing the current tiers, just adding a new slightly cheaper that us partly financed by commercials. I kind if suspect this tier is a wy for Netflix to try to silence the oeople complaining about the price if the subs, niw the can say, look we have this cheap tier you have the choice so ****

 

[AppleInLVX]

Ever paid a cable bill? TV is exactly that. I would never go back to TV. Our provider actually charges you more for internet if you don’t have TV. They practically have to give it away.

I can barely stand YouTube ads these days. I’m so glad the days of wasting your life watching 21 minutes of ads per hour of TV is over.

Yeah, I remember those days from when I lived at home back in the late 80s. When I left there, I couldn't afford cable and I never went beck, even when I could. The internet is plenty good enough for me. Just give me the biggest, dumbest pipe to carry data I can afford, and I'm good. you can keep al the rest.

 

[Damian83]

Cool, you’ve made it abundantly clear that you don’t understand the difference between data and anecdote. Clearly I’m not going to be able to teach you the difference either.

Clearly, in an ipothetic situation where people around u its dying because there’s no food, while government says in tv that’s there’s no reason to worry as everything’s ok, u’ll certainly believe the government as those statements will be certainly confirmed by “data”, while dying people are just “anecdotes” 😉

 

[vipergts2207]

Clearly, in an ipothetic situation where people around u its dying because there’s no food, while government says in tv that’s there’s no reason to worry as everything’s ok, u’ll certainly believe the government as those statements will be certainly confirmed by “data”, while dying people are just “anecdotes” 😉

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/netflix-co-ceo-confirms-plans-for-cheaper-ad-supported-netflix-tier.2349063/post-31213370

 

[webkit]

In my country, Netflix basic plan is equal to Apple TV and still much more expensive than Disney Plus (annual).

In the U.S., Apple TV+ is $4.99/month, Disney+ is $7.99/month or $79.99/year, and Netflix is $9.99/month to $19.99/month depending on screen count and resolution. Like Netflix, Disney+ is planning to add a cheaper ad-supported plan at least in certain markets.

 

[slamtennis]

Netflix is the streaming service I watch the most, so lol at all the bashing going on here.

Go figure.

 

[elvisimprsntr]

I ride on a family members Netflix and Amazon Prime. I pay for the Costco membership. Net expense is less for the entire family.

Co-CEOs worked so well for BlackBerry. Let me how it turns out for Netflix.

 

[ackmondual]

LOL. What did he just smoke? Nobody like ads at any price, period. It will only push people more into piracy and degrades the Netflix brand into the level of the Chinese OTTs (who do use ads, lots of them, on their free tiers). This move is a mistake imo.

I don't mind ads, so long as they're not awful. Case in counterpoint is ad-supported Hulu. It's great if you only watch a few hours per week. However, it got so awful that the only way I'd renew that is if they, paid me me.

Ad supported subscriptions actually make a lot more money for Netflix. So thats why they are doing it, to grow revenue. So all the people that go that route Netflix says thank you very much.

It's interesting that this day in age, we still need to remind people that if you pay $1 a month for Hulu w-ads, that makes Hulu faar more $$ than paying $13 a month for ad-free Hulu. This is why they will never discount Hulu ad-free, but are happy to incentivize people to try out the plan with ads.

 

[ackmondual]

LOL. What did he just smoke? Nobody like ads at any price, period. It will only push people more into piracy and degrades the Netflix brand into the level of the Chinese OTTs (who do use ads, lots of them, on their free tiers). This move is a mistake imo.

I really challenge such statements about piracy. I too would like hard data on this (if somebody can provide this).

There will always be pirates, but I have a feeling the people who quit piracy to get in on legit SS, and then went back to piracy given such changes to SS, isn't a very large number. I just don't see people who were already pirating to just stop. They'll be some who went legit for moral reasons, but then again, others wouldn't have in the first place for the same reasons.

While pirating isn't difficult, for the average consumer, it's still more work than they'd have to deal with... do some research on VPNs, pay for them (IIRC, $5 a month gets you a solid one. People who are more privacy and cyber minded will already be using a VPN anyways), learn how to properly set it up. As for getting them, torrents are what I'm familiar with, but I'm hearing there are alternatives, so, nice that there are more options. All this because their Netflix or other SS went up by $5 over the course of a few years.

 

[ackmondual]

In the U.S., Apple TV+ is $4.99/month, Disney+ is $7.99/month or $79.99/year, and Netflix is $9.99/month to $19.99/month depending on screen count and resolution. Like Netflix, Disney+ is planning to add a cheaper ad-supported plan at least in certain markets.

Furthermore, ATV+ is $50 per year on annual rate. If you have Costco membership, you can get it for $45 per year. I suspect it's like the "AOL syndrome" where many of the subscribers don't really use it, but have it since it's already part of A1.

Still annoyed that NF and Hulu (ad-free) cancelled their annual plans. Hulu is the one SS I would've wanted to do on an annual plan since it's robust enough for that. Oh well. That sort of flexibility ended up getting me into trying out the other SS

If Disney didn’t have Marvel and Star Wars they would be limited to households with children.

I wouldn't discount gen X growing up during Disney's "golden age". Many of them still like to get in on those types of Disney flicks. Myself.. I was going to go through the remaining portions of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, but ended up going through 4 seasons of The Simpsons before my subscription was up.

The problem is to get the content you want, you have to pay $15 here, $15 there and $15 elsewhere. In the end, it ends up being one big cable bill.

$45 per month is still cheaper than your typical cable TV bill. The people I've talked with have said that 3 major SS going at once provides good enough variety, while saving money. Myself, I'm going to be down to one major SS, and will keep Curiosity Stream since it's only $20 per year, and has very little overlap since it's solely documentaries.

 

[jav6454]

$45 per month is still cheaper than your typical cable TV bill. The people I've talked with have said that 3 major SS going at once provides good enough variety, while saving money. Myself, I'm going to be down to one major SS, and will keep Curiosity Stream since it's only $20 per year, and has very little overlap since it's solely documentaries.

$45 a month is a small savings for what once was having everything on Netflix. At $15/month for all shows? That was serious savings.

 

[ackmondual]

$45 a month is a small savings for what once was having everything on Netflix. At $15/month for all shows? That was serious savings.

It was sweet back when Netflix had everything. However, that's long gone since Disney and other competitors realized they could open their own shops and make more money for themselves vs. licensing with NF.

Your point about movie theatre ads is well taken. I am really irked each time I need to sit through a big-screen, Atmos version of a Toyota ad for a movie I've just paid a lot of cash to see. It hasn't stopped me going to the cinema yet, but it certainly is a thing I find really offensive. Maybe this bugs me more than most. I'm old and curmudgeonly. For the most part though, I pay to avoid ads, not to get them. If I'm parting with my money, I expect to be left alone with my content.

There was an article where ad execs were concerned that when ads came on in the cinema, people would just completely ignore them and just do stuff on their phones, talk with each other, etc. They were brainstorming ways to make us watch the ads. Yeah, we already have to sit through them. Don't cross that line!

Ever paid a cable bill? TV is exactly that. I would never go back to TV. Our provider actually charges you more for internet if you don’t have TV. They practically have to give it away.

I can barely stand YouTube ads these days. I’m so glad the days of wasting your life watching 21 minutes of ads per hour of TV is over.

That's an interesting thing.. some of the networks collect fees for people who subscribe to cable TV. That would explain why ISPs charge more for just internet. I got told by ISP sales rep that if I wanted to save $$, I should just get both, and ignore cable TV. However, I would've gotten just internet out of principle. Not having to deal with them tacking on rental fees as well.

 

[jav6454]

It was sweet back when Netflix had everything. However, that's long gone since Disney and other competitors realized they could open their own shops and make more money for themselves vs. licensing with NF.

[...]

That is true, and us as end users are at fault for loosing such savings. If people didn't sign up for anything but Netflix, studios would be forced to license everything to Netflix and hence one low payment.

Don't get me wrong, I know that sounds monopolistic, but if it means saving over $50 a month, then by all means.

 

[webkit]

That is true, and us as end users are at fault for loosing such savings. If people didn't sign up for anything but Netflix, studios would be forced to license everything to Netflix and hence one low payment.

Don't get me wrong, I know that sounds monopolistic, but if it means saving over $50 a month, then by all means.

It wouldn't necessarily mean notably lower prices, especially if Netflix ended up being the dominant content source/provider with little competition. Also, the more content Netflix "buys", the higher their costs. All of this could actually result in higher and higher subscription prices.

Anyway, what you are describing is basically what cable/satellite providers have done for ages. Netflix would essentially turn into a company like AT&T/DirecTV or Charter/Spectrum or Comcast/Xfinity, etc. packaging multiple channels and on demand content together.

 

[jav6454]

It wouldn't necessarily mean notably lower prices, especially if Netflix ended up being the dominant content source/provider with little competition. Also, the more content Netflix "buys", the higher their costs. All of this could actually result in higher and higher subscription prices.

Anyway, what you are describing is basically what cable/satellite providers do. Netflix would essentially turn into a company like AT&T/DirecTV or Charter/Spectrum or Comcast/Xfinity, etc. packaging multiple channels and on demand content together.

The difference is that cable providers have an infrastructure they have to maintain and pay for. Netflix doesn't and that's the savings passed on to us.

 

[webkit]

The difference is that cable providers have an infrastructure they have to maintain and pay for. Netflix doesn't and that's the savings passed on to us.

My reference to the various cable/satellite companies was more about the content packaging similarity to what has been done for ages but yes, from a direct streaming (less infrastructure) standpoint it would be different. Perhaps more like YouTube TV, Hulu Live TV, Sling TV, etc.

As far as the individual content streaming services go, direct to consumer delivery and related profits are things they may not be willing to give up especially if a dominant player, like Netflix, was able to control/dictate content or other factors too much.