'Time to unsubscribe,' say Netflix viewers, as the cheapest ad-free plan is AXED
NETFLIX has finally decided to discontinue its cheapest ad-free plan, six months after it stopped offering it to new subscribers.
The so-called Basic plan costs £7.99/$11.99 per month and has only been available to existing customers since July last year.
The streaming giant abruptly removed the cheapest ad-free plan from its subscription options last year, before raising prices in October.
The Basic subscription will disappear in the second quarter of this year for customers in Great Britain and Canada.
But people in the US will be the next to see it disappear.
Executives said the basic plan will disappear in countries where ad-supported plans are available.
The announcement came alongside Netflix's fourth quarter results, in which bosses revealed the company raked in $8.83 billion in the three months to the end of January – up 12 percent on the same period a year earlier.
On the fourth-quarter earnings call, co-CEO Greg Peters said the ad-supported tiers are designed to provide better overall value than the Basic plan.
With the advertising plan, he said: “[Customers] get a better plan than Basic, more streams, higher resolution with downloads.
“And of course the real benefit is that they get access to all these great stories at a lower effective price.”
'Greedy'
After months of subscription turmoil and price increases, it appears Netflix customers are finally at the end of their rope.
“I wonder why they are purposely fueling their rig?” one spectator asked on X (formerly Twitter).
Another tweeted: “Time to unsubscribe.”
Many have reacted to the move, saying they will be canceling their subscriptions, calling the company “greedy.”
By doing away with the Basic plan, Netflix subscribers on the Standard £10.99/$15.49 plan remain the cheapest ad-free option.
The decision comes as Netflix made the surprise announcement that it had struck a $5 billion deal to air WWE's Monday Night Raw for the next decade.
The lofty deal will see Netflix host the weekly live show via its streaming platform after more than 30 years in linear television.
Netflix has invested in 4K picture quality and its gaming suite in recent years.
These are unlikely to be free forever, as executives hinted in Netflix's fourth quarter report that as they “invest in and improve Netflix, we will occasionally ask our members to pay a little extra to reflect those improvements.”
But the company's deal with WWE marks its biggest move into the sports arena yet.
Netflix subscription costs breakdown
Standard with ads (originally launched last year as 'Basic with ads')
- £4.99 ($6.99) per month
- 1080p image quality
- no downloads yet
- your date of birth is used for advertising personalization purposes
- add one external user for a fee
- watch on two devices at the same time
Basic (disappearing soon)
- Now £7.99 ($11.99) per month
- no ads
- watch on one device
- not available to new or rejoining subscribers.
Standard
- £10.99 ($15.49) per month
- 1080p image quality
- downloading allowed
- no ads
- Add one additional external user for a fee
- watch on two devices at the same time
Premium
- Now £17.99 ($22.99) per month
- 4K UHD image quality
- High dynamic range (HDR) support.
- downloading allowed
- no ads
- add two external users for a fee
- watch on up to four devices simultaneously
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