Netflix kills Basic plan, making its cheapest ad-free tier $15.49

If you already have the $9.99 Basic plan, you can keep it.

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[AmanoJyaku]

I have no problems with ads on Hulu, so it depends on how Netflix implements them, but the "limited library" thing turns me off.

Agreed.

I find movie ads on Peacock to be fine, as they play at the beginning of the film while I'm in the kitchen getting snacks. It's only TV series where ads become annoying, since they pop up several times over the course of an episode.

I would only consider an ad-free tier for a service I watch heavily. Peacock didn't make the cut, as I only paid to get past the premium content limit of the free plan so I could watch two series. (We Are Lady Parts S2, when???)

I haven't been on Neflix for around 10 years, so I'd probably start with ad-supported just to check out the library. The content might convince me to move to a higher tier. Maybe. I just don't watch that much TV.

 

[AmanoJyaku]

See, I think it's exactly the opposite. Execs at Disney, Warner, and Paramount screwed up their own streaming service rollout hard. They all are losing money and their shareholders aren't in it for the long haul, so they are already pulling content off their services and looking to try to sell the rights to stream it to other players to try to recoup the massive black holes of debt they dug for themselves. Meanwhile Netflix is turning a a profit. For all of the studios streaming is a cost sink that loses them money and tangential to their core business. For Netflix streaming is their core business and development of new shows is tangential.

Netflix just needs to weather the storm of the studios all thinking they can out-Netflix Netflix. That's why they had to move into creating original content in the first place - because they could see all of the studios moving into their territory and cutting them off from the shows they needed to keep their service running. With the idiot CEOs of the studios finally waking up to realize that there is no way that they can actually make their streaming services profitable in the short term, they're waking up to needing to have someone to pay them for their shows. And Netflix is right there, ready to hand over cash in exchange for streaming rights.

Max (stupid name) just became profitable at the beginning of the year. Whether it continues to be profitable, and why, remains to be seen.