If you don’t mind having your shows interrupted by commercials, your Netflix subscription could become cheaper.
A new, lower-priced subscription option will be available starting November 6, where viewers will see four to five minutes of commercials for every hour of content they watch.
The new subscription will cost $6.99. Currently, Netflix offers three subscription options: Basic ($9.99), Standard ($15.49), and Premium ($19.99). None of these have ads. The price differences are based on the image resolution offered, video quality, and the number of devices that can access the streaming service simultaneously.
Jeremi Gorman, Netflix’s global advertising president, stated that advertising on Netflix will give companies the chance to “reach a diverse audience, including younger viewers who increasingly do not watch broadcast TV.” To target ads to the right audience, Netflix will collect information on gender and birth date from those who choose the cheaper subscription.
Netflix also hopes that the new offering will attract new customers and perhaps encourage those who share passwords with friends and family – a number the company believes could reach 100 million – to stop using other people’s accounts and start paying for their own.
For existing Netflix customers, the programming will not change. Those looking for the cheaper subscription will have to choose it.
The ads, which range from 15 to 30 seconds, will be shown before and during older TV shows and movies. For new films, ads will only be shown before the movie starts.
This new subscription option will also be available in 11 other countries starting November 6: Australia, Brazil, Great Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, and Spain.