How Do Netflix’s Ad-Supported Tier Price, Ad Load, Simultaneous Streams Compare to Other Streamers?
The long-awaited and much-speculated upon details of Netflix’s new ad-supported price tier have finally arrived.
Netflix will launch its ad-supported tier at 12 noon ET on Thursday, Nov. 3 in a dozen countries, including the U.S. The new price tier will cost $6.99 per month, $1 less than the price point that competitors Hulu and Disney+ settled on for their ad-supported tiers. Disney+ will launch its ad-tier on Dec. 8, which will be accompanied by a price increase for its ad-free plan.
How Does Netflix Compare With Other Multi-Tiered Streamers
| Service | Tier | Price Per Month | Ads Per Hour | Streams | 4K Streaming | Offline Mode |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Netflix | Basic with Ads (launching Nov. 3) | $6.99 | 4-5 min. per hour (reportedly none during kids’ content, Original movies) | 1 | No | No |
| Basic | $9.99 | N/A | 1 | No | Yes | |
| Standard | $15.49 | N/A | 2 | No | Yes | |
| Premium | $19.99 | N/A | 4 | Yes | Yes | |
| Disney+ | Basic (ad-supported, launching Dec. 8) | $7.99 | 4 min. per hour (none during kids’ content) | 4 | Yes | No |
| Ad-Free | $7.99 (increasing to $10.99 Dec. 8) | None | 4 | Yes | Yes | |
| HBO Max | With Ads | $9.99 | 4 min. per hour (none during HBO programming) | 3 | No | No |
| Ad-Free | $14.99 | N/A | 3 | Select Movies | Yes | |
| Peacock | Ad-Supported | Free | 5 min/hr | 3 | No | No |
| Premium | $4.99 | N/A | 3 | No | No | |
| Premium Plus | $9.99 | N/A | 3 | No | Yes | |
| Paramount+ | Essential (with ads) | $4.99 | 9-10 min. per hour | 3 | No | No |
| Premium | $9.99 | N/A | 3 | No | Yes | |
| Hulu | Basic (with ads) | $7.99 | 9-10 min. per hour | 2 | Select titles on certain devices | No |
| Premium | $14.99 | N/A | 2 | Select titles on certain devices | Yes | |
| discovery+ | With Ads | $4.99 | 3-5 min. per hour | 4 | No | No |
| Ad-Free | $6.99 | N/A | 4 | No | No |
Not only is Netflix keeping its price point lower than Disney’s, but it is also keeping its ad loads lower than that of other streamers. Netflix is sticking with an ad rate of about 4-5 minutes per hour of viewing, which is half the amount that services like Paramount+ and Hulu are employing.
The new ad-supported plan does come with some drawbacks, however. Most notably, customers will not be able to download and watch shows offline using Netflix’s ad-supported tier. Customers of ad-supported tiers on other streamers will be used to this, however, as no platform currently allows ad-supported subscribers to download shows for offline viewing.
The other notable drawback is that Netflix will only allow viewing on one screen at a time. That’s the lowest number of any service’s ad-supported tier currently. By comparison, Disney+ will allow up to four simultaneous streams of its ad-supported tier to be running on an account at any given time.
There are still plenty of questions for the new ad-supported tier of Netflix to answer. How much revenue will it bring the company? Will it cause new customers to sign up, or will it simply cannibalize its existing customer base when ad-free customers switch over?
Those answers remain to be seen, but at least the speculation regarding many of the details of Netflix’s ad-supported plan is over.
Netflix
Netflix is a subscription video streaming service that includes on-demand access to 3,000+ movies, 2,000+ TV Shows, and Netflix Originals like Stranger Things, Squid Game, The Crown, Tiger King, and Bridgerton. They are constantly adding new shows and movies. Some of their Academy Award-winning exclusives include Roma, Marriage Story, Mank, and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.