Netflix will today launch its affordable ad-supported plans dubbed Basic with Ads. The company announced the new plan last month informing that the launch was scheduled for November 3. Basic with Ads will launch today at 9:30 PM.
For the unaware, Basic with Ads is Netflix’s first-ever ad-supported affordable video streaming plan priced at $6.99 a month which is roughly around Rs 500. It will be different from the existing Basic plan and will not affect the other existing ad-free plans.
“Basic with Ads will launch just six months after we first announced the option of a lower-priced ads plan. None of this would have been possible without our team’s hard work or Microsoft’s extraordinary partnership. The switch from linear is happening at an ever-increasing speed, with streaming now surpassing broadcast and cable in the US. We’re confident that with Netflix starting at $6.99 a month, we now have a price and plan for every fan,” the video-streaming company said while announcing the plan in its official blog post.
Just like the other Netflix subscription plans, Basic with Ads subscribers will also have the option to change or cancel the plan anytime they want. The new plan along with the existing Basic plan will offer video quality of 720p/HD with no ability to download titles. Also, a few movies and TV shows won’t be available to these subscribers due to licensing issues which Netflix says it is working on.
About the availability of Basic with Ads, Netflix says that the plan will be rolled out in 12 countries and India is not in this list. It will be live in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Spain, the UK and the US.
Netflix’s Basic with Ads will have 15 to 30 seconds long ads playing before and during shows and films. The company says it will offer ‘broad targeting capabilities by country and genre’ to help advertisers reach right audience and prevent showing ads on irrelevant content. Netflix has partnered with DoubleVerify and Integral Ad Science to verify the viewability and traffic validity of ads.
