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Netflix Hints at Price Increases, Plans to Retire Basic Service Amid Ad-Tier Growth

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/netflix-ad-tier-growth-q4-2023-1235805212/

The streamer has already phased out the cheapest ad-free subscription option for new signups.

Netflix Hints at Price Increases, Plans to Retire Basic Service Amid Ad-Tier Growth::Netflix says subscriptions to its ad-supported service grew by 70 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023.

63 comments

TheBat

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Why not? They saw subscriber count go up after blocking shared accounts. Not like people give a shit.

PerogiBoi

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People on average will roll over and take most anything.

Buffalox

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I predicted exactly this when they first announced cheaper subscriptions with ads. People were raving that they'd abandon Netflix, because of price hikes commercials and preventing unlimited shared accounts. I suppose some did, but more was added with the cheaper option. So 100% a gain for Netflix. I even considered buying stock in Netflix, but didn't in part because the stock market was pretty shaky at the time. But it would have been a decent investment.

LodeMike

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That actually false. They lost subscribers in the areas where the change took place

TheBat

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Check numbers after a quarter or two. Many of them will be back.

Kepabar

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18 billion yearly profit last I checked.

Not enough.

Never enough.

nodsocket

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Permanently Deleted

1984

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True capitalism, the only thing that matters is if the stocks go up. More profits, all the time, or we call it a depression. Lol.

RGB3x3

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I can't tell if you're trying to justify ever-increasing profits and screwing over customers.

Your profits from stocks are nobody's concern.

Untitled4774

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Fuck everyone else, you got yours, right?

FOH

neclimdul

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I don't know if there could have been a comment that sums up the problem. To this person Netflix is no longer a product; it's not about the best content or the best experience anymore. It's about getting your buck.

Netflix used to have the best content online at the best price. It now has neither and I don't know how anyone still rationalizes subscribing.

Snapz

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Eat shit, leech.

nodsocket

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Permanently Deleted

poo

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Yikes dude.

feedum_sneedson

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DON'T DO THAT

prole

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We're all super impressed.

dugmeup

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The enshittification continues

prole

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It's called rent-seeking. There's already a well studied term for the phenomenon. I'm happy that young people are starting to recognize it, but this isn't anything new. This is how capitalism works.

BearOfaTime

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I plan to retire Netflix amid ad growth.

Fuck off Netflix.

rando895

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What I find interesting is it seems like we are again converging on the same service as cable. Which suggests that the best method of profiting off watching movies/tv at home is to have ad supported entertainment, with a monthly fee.

Once again, the profit motive ruins something good .

escapedgoat

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Netflix already costs over $185 a year. For that price I can rent 6 5k UHD movies a month at redbox and get much higher quality viewing. I can't find 6 good things to watch any given month on Netflix. I might turn my membership back on for the final season of Cobra Kai or Stranger Things, but there's just not much else that's compelling me to spend that money.

BearOfaTime

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And rip those disc's while you're at it...

TK420

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With what type of software? Oh, MakeMKV, that sounds simple and easy!

maccentric

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Redbox is still a thing? Huh

TK420

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Discs are way better than streams if you care about quality.

maccentric

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No doubt, but I haven’t seen a Redbox since like before covid

instamat

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This guy discs

WishbackJumpsta

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Yeah, because its other plans are STUPIDLY expensive, their content and original shows don't justify the price.

FunderPants

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Price anchoring, they show you* the big price and now you think the smaller one is a great deal.

*Not you you, you us, we. Hmmm

WishbackJumpsta

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Price anchoring should be illegal honestly

BearOfaTime

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God their lineup sucks balls. It's all the same juvenile drama dressed up in different genre costumes.

WishbackJumpsta

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Fucking true, im only hanging around with it because the wife likes watching some of the shows…

feedum_sneedson

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I hate shareholder capitalism.

SuperCub

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That's just capitalism.

O_i

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Obligatory, “if it happens I’m out” post

For reals though fuck these gonks

DoctorButts

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Corpo rat scum

Earthwormjim91

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Just like when they banned shared accounts too I bet.

O_i

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Didn’t really affect me but I really should of just in principle, not that it seems it made a difference in the business model though

Got_Bent

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I cancelled prime the day they sent the no more ad free email.

Netflix doesn't even provide me with low quality counterfeit goods that get lost in transit, so this is a super easy decision.

Heh. What am I saying? I cancelled Netflix last year when my kid's graduation coincided with their shared password crackdown. I only still had it so she could use it.

eddietrax

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Same here and I cancelled Netflix back when they announced they were cracking down on shared accounts. Arrrrrrr

topperharlie

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I already unsubscribed and start sailing when the account share thing happened, but people are willing to take anything these days... so good for netflix I suppose.

101 businessman logic: slowly stretch it until numbers go down, and then back down a bit, just to keep trying stretching it further in a later time. Repeat.

infinite growth guaranteed.

This is why at this point I don't trust any subscription type thing, they are all destined to end up in that cycle, which, good for them, I think it'll have to explode eventually, or not, who cares, I'm already out anyway

SomeGuy69

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Lol at the people still paying. Learn to use the internet.

essteeyou

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If everyone learned to "use the internet" and stopped paying then there would be nothing to pay for because nobody works for free.

CriticalMiss

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If everyone learned to use the internet then those companies would have to adapt in order to survive.

essteeyou

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How would they adapt to offer stuff for cheaper than free?

CriticalMiss

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Because piracy isn’t a pricing issue, it’s a service issue. If people can get a better service for free, then that’s what they’re going to do. It’s the same reason people go to McDonalds, everyone can make a mid burger at home, but McDs has already done it and will sell it at a price some people will find reasonable. If I could go to Netflix, pay them whatever it costs right now and actually watch the content at a resolution I actually paid for and download to keep myself a copy for later (because again, I bought it) then I’d pay for Netflix. Seeing as that’s not the case and likely won’t be because people keep paying for Netflix, we’re stuck with the status quo.

essteeyou

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When you're talking about downloading for later are you talking about while your Netflix subscription is active, or for after you terminate your subscription?

CriticalMiss

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After as well, no DRM on downloads. Pure .mp4

essteeyou

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So on the first day of your Netflix subscription you'd download 1000 movies then cancel your subscription...

Vertelleus

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I only had Netflix because it was ~~free~~ included with my T-Maybe account. They are switching it to the ad supported tier today as base, and a user has to pay extra for the non-ad supported tiers.

My plan going forward is to watch the first episode with ads and if I like it I'll search the high seas for the rest.

The enshitification continues.

sudoroot

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Once they changed it to paying that like $1 extra for the plan, I noped off TMobile. No use for it anymore when Google Fi is way cheaper for just 2 people. I just pirated everything anyways even when we had the subscription

snekerpimp

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“Time to extract profit from the losers-er I mean customers that are left”

octopus_ink

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We've really been weighing whether we use Netflix enough to justify the cost lately. Don't push us, Netflix.

braxy29

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been free for two or three years. i haven't missed a thing, as far as i can tell.

BradleyUffner

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They smell the blood in the water now.

white_shotgun

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Permanently Deleted

r00ty

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Hahaha. If they remove the "basic" which I believe is standard since that's the lowest I see. Only leaving the Premium option then I'm afraid I'm going to pull a full dragon's den.

I really did like Netflix, but they're just getting greedy and trying to extract blood from stone now. And for that reason, I'll be out should they remove the standard tier.

the_q

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Permanently Deleted

r00ty

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Well, I've not been affected so far. But this will definitely be a huge hit to me and that will be it.

Tier1BuildABear

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Isn't this like actually the 5th or 6th price hike in the last year? I already cancelled Netflix when they cracked down on password sharing but this just feels like they're trying to lose customers

autotldr

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This is the best summary I could come up with:

Netflix says it had a second straight quarter of strong growth in its ad-supported tier, though the business is still in its infancy.

The ad tier has gotten large enough, however, for the company to start retiring its cheapest ad-free option later this year.

Co-CEO Greg Peters said on the company’s earnings call that the ad tier has 23 million monthly active users in the 12 countries where it offers the plans, and he expects that number to continue growing.

Peters also noted that promotional bundles, à la wireless provider T-Mobile’s “Netflix on Us” deal, can help drive subscriber growth.

It will retire the plan — currently the least expensive ad-free option at Netflix — for all subscribers in Canada and the U.K. in the spring “and tak[e] it from there,” the company says in its letter to shareholders.

Netflix’s advertising team, led by Amy Reinhard, will have a lot more inventory to offer up in 2025, when it becomes the home of the WWE’s flagship program, Monday Night Raw.

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