On 4th November, Netflix launched Basic with Ads tier in Australia while struggling to curate a compelling content library for subscribers.
Netflix has named five major studios that seemed yet to be fully convinced of Netflix’s new affordable tier.
The list includes Walt Disney, NBCUniversal, Sony Pictures Television, Warner Bros, and Lions Gate Entertainment.
The new tier, which comes at AU$6.99, will roll out in 12 countries, including Australia, US, UK, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain, and South Korea.
With an average of 4 to 5 minutes of ads per hour, the new tier does not offer the option to download content to watch offline, nor is there enough content to stream.
What was supposed to be a temporary licensing issue regarding the lack of content has left Netflix in an endless fix with five major studios whose support is still questionable.
“Netflix continues to haggle with several major studios for the right to run ads against their content in the new service or put their content on the ad tier,” wrote The Wall Street Journal about the streaming service.
Netflix had had a laidback approach when it came to incorporating ads before, but with increasing competition from rivals like Disney Plus, it has found it difficult to look the other way.
“I think it’s pretty clear that it’s working for Hulu. Disney’s doing it, HBO did it. I don’t think we have a lot of doubt that it works, that all those companies have figured it out,” Ted Sarandos, co-CEO of Netflix, had said.
“I’m sure we’ll just get in and figure it out, as opposed to test it and maybe do it or not do it.”
His words are not so reassuring, however.
The new tier’s launch seems like a test run for the company, but it will be interesting to see if viewers are content with the 720p movies and series lined up for them.
