What you can and can’t get for $7 a month – Orange County Register

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE | AP technology writer

SAN RAMON – Netflix will next month unveil the first version of its video streaming service with advertising, giving budget-conscious viewers the opportunity to watch most of its shows at a deep discount if they accept commercial breaks.

The ad-supported service is set to debut on November 3 as Netflix tries to reverse a decline in subscriber numbers. In the US, it costs $7 a month, a 55% discount to Netflix’s most popular $15.50 monthly plan, which is ad-free.

Netflix’s ad-supported option will also launch in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Spain and the UK, according to a Thursday post from the company’s chief operating officer, Greg Peters.

Not only can Netflix subscribers who sign up for the cheaper service put up with around four to five minutes of advertising per hour, but they also can’t download TV shows and movies to watch when their devices are offline. Peters also said that a “limited” amount of programming available on the ad-free service will not be included on the ad-supported version due to licensing issues.

Netflix’s 15-year-old streaming service was previously ad-free, but the Los Gatos-based company decided to take a new direction six months ago after reporting its first loss of subscribers in more than a decade.

Customer erosion compounded a staggering stock price decline that has wiped out more than $200 billion in shareholder wealth over the past 11 months. Shares rallied after Thursday’s announcement but are still down about two-thirds of their value since peaking last November when the streaming service was still growing.

In the first half of this year, Netflix lost 1.2 million subscribers and stayed at nearly 221 million. Management predicted in July that it would win back about 1 million of those subscribers over the summer months. The figures for the period July to September are to be announced on Tuesday.

Netflix is ​​betting that the budget option with ads will be particularly popular at a time when persistently high inflation is pressuring millions of households to rein in spending, particularly on discretionary items like video streaming. The streaming market is also crowded with stiffer competition from the likes of Amazon, Apple, and Walt Disney Co., which are also preparing to offer an ad-supported version of their service soon.