Netflix launches a basic plan at $4.99 per month with ads

Streaming giant Netflix is looking to attract new subscriptions and generate more revenue with its Basic with ads plan, available in certain countries, starting in November 2022.

The platform has already launched the new plan in Canada, Mexico, Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Spain (coming on November 10).

There are currently no plans to make the new plan available in any African country, but this could be in the pipeline for next year.

Netflix Basic with ads is an ad-supported subscription plan that allows you to enjoy movies and TV shows at the low price of $4.99 per month.

With this plan, you can enjoy Netflix in HD video quality (up to 720p) on one supported phone, tablet, computer, or TV at a time. You would also have access to Netflix games without any ads.

But unlike its other ad-free plans, ads will be shown before or during most TV shows and movies, while some movies and TV shows will not be available due to licensing restrictions, and downloads are not included in the Basic plan.

In 2021, Netflix's annual revenue reached $29.7 billion and is projected to surpass $32 billion by the end of 2022. In the third quarter of 2022, Netflix generated total revenue of nearly $7.93 billion U.S. dollars, up from about $7.48 billion in the corresponding quarter of 2021, according to company data.

Netflix reached 222 million subscribers in 2021, but stalled in Q1 2022, losing 200,000 subscribers. As of the third quarter of 2022, Netflix had approximately 223 million paid subscribers worldwide, adding about 2.5 million paid subscribers from the previous quarter.

It is expected that this Basic plan with ads at a lower price would help the company significantly increase its quarterly subscriber numbers and grow its revenue even more.