Netflix kills its cheapest plan without ads
Users must either watch advertising or pay more for their plan
Your support helps us to tell the story
This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.
The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.
Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.
Netflix has got rid of its ‘Basic’ plan, the cheapest option to watch without ads.
Until recently, Netflix had the option to pay £6.99 or $6.99 for its cheapest normal tier, which came with some restrictions including watching only in HD and on one device at a time.
The company had already axed a similar offering in Canada. And now it has removed the option to join that plan in the US and UK.
Instead, users will have to choose between watching with ads – which costs $6.99 in the US, or £4.99 in the UK – or paying the much higher price of $15.49 or £10.99 for the “standard” plan.
People who already subscribed to the basic plan will be allowed to stay on it, so long as they make no changes to their subscription. But the offering will no longer be available to new users.
Netflix had already hidden the option behind a button on its website, and had seemed to discourage people from taking it up.
In an earnings call this week, in which Netflix also announcing surging subscription growth that suggests its crackdown on password sharing is working, the company’s co-CEO Greg Peters said that it was looking to “optimise” its plan structure.
He said that the company wants “to give consumers access across a wide range”, and pointed to the lower “entry prices” on offer to customers. Those customers must watch ads if they wish to opt for the lower prices, however.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments