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Netflix to roll out lower-priced, ad-supported option sooner than expected, report says

Earns Netflix-Next Act
Posted at 3:42 PM, May 10, 2022
and last updated 2022-05-11 12:20:45-04

Streaming giant Netflix has reportedly told employees that the company will try to release a lower-priced, ad-supported subscription tier by the end of 2022.

According to the New York Times, a recent note to employees from company leadership said Netflix is targeting the last 3 months of the year to try and introduce the new tier for subscribers.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said in a statement last month, "Those who follow Netflix know I've been against the complexity of advertising and [am] a big fan of the simplicity of subscription," he said. "But as much as I'm a fan of that, I'm a bigger fan of consumer choice, and allowing consumers who would like to have a lower price and are advertising-tolerant get what they want makes a lot of sense."

Netflix previously announced that it had lost 200,000 subscribers in the first three months of the year. A recent note to employees about the launch of the ad-supported tier noted the ambitious timeline saying, “Yes, it’s fast and ambitious and it will require some trade-offs.”

Netflix's most popular subscription tier is ad-free and costs $15.49 per month. HBO Max offers a commercial-free streaming service at $15 per month.