If you prefer Netflix without ads, you could be forced to pay more soon.
The streaming service, while announcing a much higher than expected number of new subscribers in its earnings report Tuesday, also revealed plans to “retire” its Basic ad-free subscription plan.
That means customers who are currently paying the $11.99 monthly rate will have to either opt in for advertising during programs (and pay a lower rate of $6.99) or jump to the next ad-free tier, which costs $15.49 per month.
Netflix last year stopped new subscriptions to its Basic plan, but allowed existing subscribers on that tier to keep it. Now it’s killing it off for good, starting with Canada and the U.K. For now, the Basic plan will continue in the U.S., but Netflix made it clear it plans to eventually remove it altogether.
“In Q4‘23, like the quarter before, our ads membership increased by nearly 70% quarter over quarter, supported by improvements in our offering (e.g., downloads) and the phasing out of our Basic plan for new and rejoining members in our ads markets,” the company wrote in a letter to shareholders. “The ads plan now accounts for 40% of all Netflix sign-ups in our ads markets and we’re looking to retire our Basic plan in some of our ads countries, starting with Canada and the UK in Q2 and taking it from there.”
Netflix, which also announced on Tuesday it would begin carrying WWE’s Raw starting in 2025, began sunsetting the Basic plan last July, removing it as an option for new customers as well as those looking to switch plans. At the time, the company said customers who were on the Basic plan would be able to maintain that tier’s rate until they canceled or changed their membership.
The Basic option came with limitations. Users, for instance, could only stream on a single device and could only download content to a single phone or tablet. It was the plan for singles. The Standard plan lets users stream in more than one place at a time, but that comes at a premium of more than 50%.
Ad-supported plans are more affordable, but will force viewers to watch roughly four minutes of ads per hour, with some slight restrictions on the content that can be viewed, due to licensing restrictions.
The elimination of the lowest-priced ad-free option follows Netflix’s crackdown on password sharing. The company is in the midst of a push to increase its revenues and subscriptions after they began to taper off at the end of the pandemic.
