UPDATE (27/06/2024): Netflix SA’s PR agency has reached out to Stuff to confirm that the streamer “has no plans to offer a free plan in SA.”
ORIGINAL STORY:
Netflix, those kings of streaming, are constantly on the lookout for new methods to grow the business. First, it tried ads, which has seemingly worked in most of the streamer’s markets where it’s available. South Africa is still waiting for that particular hammer to drop. According to a new report from Bloomberg and “people familiar with its plans,” the service has a bold new strategy: free Netflix.
Keep those fingers crossed
We’re not trying to start some bold #FreeNetflix movement here. The service is quite literally looking to knock off the cost of its subscription in favour of more ads, specifically in its European and Asian markets where Netflix adoption rates aren’t going as well as it had hoped. “Think Germany or Japan,” the report reads, where free TV networks are already popular and it must fight for its subscriptions.
That isn’t to say South Africa definitely won’t be included in Netflix’s grand plans. They are still far from fruition and could hit anywhere, and any time. “There are no current plans to do this anywhere — these are just talks, for now,” writes Bloomberg. The streamer first experimented with the idea of a completely free (and ad-free) experience in Kenya in 2021, before it was shut down in 2023.
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Thanks to Netflix’s early business model, it has been slow to adapt to what is now an ad-centric business within the streaming industry. “It’s not the most attractive place,” an advertising executive said, speaking with Bloomberg. “There is not a clamoring for them.”
Should the free tier ever see the light of day — hopefully in South Africa, too — it’ll do more for Netflix’s advertising inventory than anything else, something it has recently struggled to grow, and ultimately fatten the company’s bottom line in those countries where “with ads” tiers are readily available. It may also serve as a gateway into the service, enticing free customers to pay a monthly fee to rid themselves of ads.
