Netflix is one of the biggest streaming services in the world and is also one of those which doesn’t show ads on its platform. However, that might change this year as a new report claims that Netflix is exploring the idea of introducing ads on its platform. Moreover, the company will also begin cracking down on Password sharing by the end of the year.
Two individuals who had access to the internal Netflix note shared it with The New York Times, as per which Netflix is aiming to launch the ad-supported tier between October and December 2022. Initially, Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, during the earnings call last month said that the video streaming service would explore ad-driven alternatives to the existing plans over the “next year or two”.
Further, during the same call, Netflix’s COO Greg Peters had said that Netflix would “through a year or so of iterating” on password sharing before the limitation rolls out. However, both of these could now be implemented sooner. The internal note shared with NY Times says that an ad-supported plan would be rolled out by the end of this year. The note also outlined the fact how Netflix’ American competitors have been able to “maintain strong brands while offering an ad-supported service”.
The note also mentioned,“Every major streaming company excluding Apple has or has announced an ad-supported service. For good reason, people want lower-priced options”. As for the password sharing situation, the crack down on password sharing will also begin around the last three months of 2022, the internal note accessed by NYT said.
Peters already confirmed that Netflix will not completely shut down password sharing but will require the users to pay more to do so. For those unaware, the streaming service is already testing the option for subscribers to pay to share their accounts outside their household in Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru since March of this year. Both of these moves highlight how Netflix wants to turn around things for the good as it reported its first loss last month in a decade.