Fuckin duh like are they actually surprised people in this day and age don't want to see commercials on the service we pay for.

> COO Greg Peters, who is leading the ad push, was asked by moderator and J.P. Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth about whether many subscribers to the ad-free tier would trade down to the ad-supported one. Any resulting loss of subscriber revenue could offset gains from advertising. The new Basic with Ads plan will cost $6.99 a month, compared with $15.49 for the most popular ad-free plan.

> “We don’t see a lot of members switching plans,” Peters said. “Oftentimes, when they come in for a specific feature, let’s say 4K resolution, we see that to be a fairly sticky choice.” If those patterns hold true in the new advertising phase, he added, the company anticipates “unit economics being neutral to positive.” The cheapest plan has certain limitations — only one stream at a time, no downloading 720p resolution (compared with 1080p for the most popular plan).

I mean Hulu with ads is for pay and really successful. But it doesn't really make sense for almost anyone to downgrade. The ad service is to drawn in new people and to make more off those people.

The purpose of this tier is to bring in new viewers, sure, but maybe more importantly to make the next ad free price rise feel reasonable.

> Hulu with ads is for pay and really successful

At least two caveats to that, though:

1. A lot of the people on that tier probably got it for $0.99 a month or another promo deal that they've had. (They never have promo deals on the ad-free tier.)

2. Hulu started out without an ad-free tier and only later added one. There are probably still a decent amount of people who just never upgraded, but that doesn't necessarily mean they wouldn't have taken the ad-free version instead if it was available from the beginning. (There's a difference between deciding to pay more to not get ads when you had apparently already been okay with dealing with them vs. deciding to intentionally see ads in order to save a few bucks.)

I would suspect there will be a very small percentage that might do that to save money.

But definitely see most of the ad-supported tier viewers as being brand new customers. And a new market base for Netflix to tap into.

They’re not surprised, that’s kinda the point of their statement

That’s true for me.

However I also will not pay anymore than what I’m paying right now for it and especially with no 4k.

Yep. I’ll never subject my kids to ads on purpose.

Yeah, I think a LOT in various internet circles are missing the bigger picture on the ad-supported tier and ultimate target demographic for this and where Netflix has actually been struggling, and it is not with "typical" reddit demographic.

While I am a bit surprised at some of the launch countries, I think those are more for "testing" and ramping up to their goal for emerging markets in an attempt to further subsidized the cost of entry for Netflix where "Free" content on Youtube/TikTok, that while not the same, gives a much harder run for their time and mind-space than paid streaming services like Netflix.

Yep I unsubscribed to Netflix when the price went above $15 since I don't watch too much TV (maybe 3-5 hours per week). But I will be re-subscribing to the lower tier once it rolls out, since it makes a lot more sense based on my viewing habits and it gives me something to have on in the background when I'm doing chores.

I may even sign up for the $10 plan now that it is 720p (480p seemed pointless to me), but I will test the ad version first.

Sounds good!

I like that we have more options and choices now.

Who the hell is gonna sub to 720p WITH ads?!?! 🤨

Maybe someone grannies would.

This is the reason they aren't offering any ad supported plans in 1080p or higher. They don't want to cannibalize their higher tier customers. Limiting it to 720p means the majority of subscribers who decide to sub will likely not be from their traditional customer base.

….. they’re saying the folks on the plan will be new subscribers. They will grow off of this.

Of course. People who have had it for years will not switch. They want either brand new subs or former subs who would come back for a cheaper price.

The dealbreaker ain't the ads. It's no offline viewing and reduced catalog.

I think most people are happy to watch ads instead of paying more. Most people are bombarded by apps in their favourite apps but it doesn’t dissuade them to use it. As long as something is free or cheaper with ads I think people will take that option. It sucks but most consumers do not care. I’ve seen people use the lowest tier of Netflix to watch things on their TV in SD. Most people do not care.

Only Reddit really cares about resolution. As long as it’s not terrible, most consumers seldom care.

My pattern is to try out a service: Get hooked on a long running show that I missed. Get annoyed by the repetitive commercials. Move up a tier. This happened recently with Hulu. Made it 3 seasons into Bob’s Burgers and couldn’t take it anymore. Life has been great since I upgraded.

Alternatively, not find a show and let the relationship fizzle: Peacock, Paramount, etc.

Yeah because they've deliberately made the ads available on the 'Basic' plan which is the worst one so of course no one would downgrade to a lower video quality.

Hulu's ad-enabled service is also successful because there's no compromise in video quality between the ad-enabled and the ad-free versions. That's not the case on Netflix. You'll get a downgraded video quality if you go from the Standard or the Ultra plan to 'Basic with Ads'.

Tf are you talking about bruh? Most people do care about the resolution on TV. That's why a lot of people opt to share their accounts with people and buy the ultra plan instead of individually buying the Basic plan.

If you’re sharing the account the main account holder most likely cares about resolution etc. than those sharing off them. I’d cater a guess that they’ll watch whatever resolution is on in front of them. My mate watches HOTD on his iPad via Now TV which caps their resolution at 720p at a low bitrate. It’s grainy to my eyes but most people wouldn’t care. I do. A lot of people watch at that resolution and do not care about it being higher. If you showed them side by side comparisons between 720p and 1080p, people would notice but not care enough to pay for it. However, 1080p and 4k streams are negligible, Hell, even I can’t tell the difference at times between high bitrate 1080p copy vs high bitrate 4k copy. The only reason I pay or look for better versions is because I know it’s out there and I’d like even the most incremental upgrade to my media. However, most consumers are not like this and are happy to watch at 720p if it’s passable quality and if it’s convenient (price and accessibility).

Not most people I know. 480P is fine, they're not hating DVD quality from 10 feet away. Although, it might also be that most people I know are over 30 and don't have the best eyesight, but they're also the people who have any money.

I so far refuse to pay for something and watch ads with it. That said, I also do everything I can to avoid ads so I might be unusual.

The downgrade makes sense depending on how much of a gap there is in price. If you really don't care that much about ads, then you cut your price in half with Hulu by downgrading.

Netflix is even more expensive and is likely the most expensive service people own.

So if you don't care about ads, you cut your price by more than half. An money concious person is going to realize that over a year that's a nice chunk of money. Hell you can talke the savings from the ad tier and then get another serivice like Hulu on ad tier.

Yeah I got netflix in the first place because I despise advertising. If you're in the advertising game just FYI I hate you and hope you lose your job.

Most people stare at their fucking phones while watching a show. It's why they've gotten away with mediocre writing for so long.

There's maybe a handful of compelling shows for any given person at any time and they come around every couple years for three months

Quantity over quality is going to make this industry die, or turn over to the non scripted department

Our new overlords

Hopefully it's more Gordon Ramsey losing his shit on people and less House Wives but whatever. Even Andy Cohen looks dead inside these days

rural areas with shitty internet

The basic plan is not 1/4th the price of the 4K plan.

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Well - Netflix isn’t counting all of the parents that only pay for this because their kids want to watch - and welcome the opportunity to downgrade to save money on something they don’t use - and are ok with hearing their kids complain about ads.

I'm sure Netflix will love that. They'll make more money off of the ad tier.