Popular streaming platform, Netflix, is offering Canadian viewers the option of a cheaper monthly subscription plan — as long as they don’t mind sitting through commercial breaks.
While talking about the development, Netflix said it has scheduled November 1 to launch its new ad-supported streaming plan in Canada for $5.99 per month. The price is less than Netflix’s ad-free plans which range between $9.99 and $20.99 a month.
Netflix said in exchange for the savings, an average of four to five minutes of ads per hour placed before and during TV shows and films would be seen by subscribers.
Netflix said its existing plans’ pricing will not be affected by the launch of the ad tier.
The experience drifts apart from Netflix’s insistence over the years that it would never introduce ad breaks during its programs, a choice that has helped the company build its reputation.
However, competition in the streaming world has increased in recent years with newcomer Disney Plus quickly displacing the company as the most popular streaming service. Wall Street analysts have voiced out concerns that a reduction in Netflix subscribers earlier this year may persist if more people move to alternative platforms.
In a recent conference call with reporters, Greg Peters, Netflix’s chief operating officer said: “We want to offer consumers choice and for them to figure out what is the best offering for them.
“And that could mean some of our existing members shift off of a plan that doesn’t include ads into this basic with ads plan. But if that’s the better experience for them in terms of the price … then we want to enable them to do that.”
Meanwhile, not every programme in the Netflix library will be available on the ad tier plan and subscribers will not have the option of downloading titles for offline viewing.
Peters said these limitations are due to licensing agreements with distributors and would vary between countries. He estimated that between five to 10 per cent of TV and films on the higher-priced plans will be missing from the ad tier.
The commercial breaks will be identical to what viewers see on other streaming platforms.
Before the program starts, a limited run of 15- and 30-second ads will play and during the show, there will be fade-outs to a commercial at normal times in the narrative.
During the press briefing, Netflix executives cited an instance from “Emily in Paris” where the advertisement was placed between the end of dialogue at a restaurant and the shot of a new scene on the streets of Paris.
According to Peters, Netflix movies will employ a slightly different approach which aims to “preserve the cinematic model” for new titles. Instead of streaming commercials during the film, recent releases will only have pre-roll ads, while mid-roll ads will be introduced after the title has been available for a period of time.
Advertising will be targeted by the data available on a user’s profile which will require subscribers to provide their date of birth and gender while signing up — with the options of male, female or neither/prefer not to say.
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