Netflix with ads: it's a cheap, bargain basement product

Netflix have finally revealed the nitty gritty details on its Netflix with ads plans and, well, it doesn't sound hugely enticing.

The new pricing tier Basic With Ads will debut Nov 1 in Canada and Mexico. Two days later on Nov 3 it rolls out to the US, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Spain, and the UK. In the US (and Australia), pricing will be $6.99, which is three bucks cheaper than the current Basic plan.

Now, so far that sounds fine. A number of folks will be happy to pay less for Netflix. I'm one of them.

But here's where the disappointing aspect of it lies: Basic With Ads will only support video up to 720p HD. Also, at launch, depending on country, about 5% to 10% of titles will be unavailable on Netflix Basic With Ads. This is due to contractual issues and that volume of unavailable titles is expected to shrink.

Is such a drop in video quality and an absence of titles worth $3 less a month? That just sounds like an unwanted frustration.

Expect ads to be no more than 4-5 mins per hour, with ads running 15 or 30 seconds long. The ads will play before and during TV shows and films. New-release movies will include only pre-roll ads to “preserve the cinematic experience,” apparently. On sign-up for the new plan, Netflix will ask for users date of birth and gender so they can target ads.

Personally, the trade off isn't enough to justify saving a few bucks a month, so I will stick to the plan I am on. There is nothing in the announcement about this and it is speculation at my end, but the fact they have named the tier Basic With Ads to me suggests that we will likely in the future also see the roll out of Standard With Ads. It seems almost inevitable if Netflix want to sell advertisers on viewers who are not just their most price-conscious customers.

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