Netflix eliminated its lowest-cost ad-free subscription plan, emphasizing an ad-supported business model. The streaming service company cut the basic ad-free tier in Canada last month, and now US and UK customers are seeing the same strategy unfold in their own living rooms.
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As of yesterday, Netflix offered four subscription plans for customers: Standard with ads at $6.99, Basic ad-free at $9.99, Standard ad-free at $15.49, and Premium ad-free at $19.99. Today, the company only offers three, eliminating the Basic ad-free option that cost customers $9.99.
This means that the cheapest option for customers that want to watch Netflix without having to sit through ads now costs $15.49 a month.
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The Basic plan allowed subscribers to stream high-definition content, up to 720p, without ads. In contrast to the Premium plan, which lets users stream on up to four devices at once, Basic plan subscribers could only stream on one device at a time. Though new subscribers cannot sign up for the Basic plan, it’s unclear how long current users will continue paying the $9.99 fee.
Netflix has garnered media attention for months since it started cracking down on customers sharing passwords between different households, losing some subscribers and gaining others in the process.
