South Africa has been living in fear of Netflix’s ad-supported tier ever since the streaming giant launched the new tier in 2022. Somehow, the streamer has yet to cast its Eye of Barad-dûr in South Africa’s direction, but we don’t expect that to be the case for much longer. Yesterday, the streamer revealed that in the countries where the ad-supported tier is supported, it is proving wildly successful.
Specifically, the tier is up to 40 million subscribers, out of Netflix’s 270 million or so subscribers across all tiers it reported last month. And it’s only gaining steam.
Just 5 months ago, Netflix was bragging that the cheaper tier had garnered 23 million new subs in little over a year. You do the math. Netflix’s ads are winning the streaming war, and we don’t expect them to let up until they’re on every screen globally.
Netflix is on the up-and-up
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out why the ad-supported tier is getting so much attention. In the US, it costs $8/m for the cheapest “with ads” tier, while it costs $23/m for those who want no ads and the highest resolution available. The streamer has also spent the last year bolstering the features found in the tier, bumping up the resolution to 1080p and including more concurrent streams.
That’s not to mention the most obvious solution of all – make ads more appealing. The streamer has reportedly been working on making ads ‘episodic’ and linking them to a user’s account separately for a more targeted selection. It results in a more cohesive ad experience that might just convince a couple of the older users to watch whatever new show is being fed down their throats.
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According to a TechCrunch report, Netflix also took the opportunity to announce that it was starting its own “in-house” advertising technology platform. The king of streaming didn’t delve into much detail about what that all means, but we think it has something to do with those ‘episodic’ ads we just mentioned.
“Bringing our ad tech in-house will allow us to power the ads plan with the same level of excellence that’s made Netflix the leader in streaming technology today,” says Amy Reinhard, Netflix’s president of advertising.