It’s only been half a year since Netflix announced that it would be making a new ad-supported subscription option available at a lower price. Now the streaming service is getting down to business: From November 3, 2022 at 5 p.m., the Netflix subscription with advertising will also start in Germany. Cost point: 4.99 euros per month.
Netflix describes the new subscription model as a basic subscription with advertising and will initially be rolled out in twelve countries: Germany, Australia, Brazil, France, Italy, Japan, Canada, Korea, Mexico, Spain, the United Kingdom and the USA. The range of functions is based on the existing basic subscription, the cheapest option so far, which costs 7.99 euros per month. However, there are three important limitations.
If you choose the three euro cheaper subscription with advertising, you have to make the following cuts:
- An average of 4 to 5 minutes of advertising per hour, which is played in 15 to 30 second commercials before and during films and series
- A smaller selection of films and series, because some will not be available with the advertising subscription for licensing reasons. Netflix COO Greg Peters speaks loudly Variety from 5 to 10 percent, which will be missing depending on the country. The German press release does not give a specific number, but it says Netflix is working to change that.
- No download function
However, there is also good news. The basic subscription (both with and without advertising) will now offer HD quality. Instead of a lousy 480p, users can now stream in 720p. It’s still not Full HD, i.e. 1080p, like the standard subscription offers, and certainly not 4K like the premium subscription offers, but it’s still a significant upgrade.
With Netflix, another streaming giant is now following the trend of offering ad-supported options. As early as August, Amazon launched the free streaming service Freevee as an alternative to Prime Video and Disney+ has also announced that it will offer an advertising-financed subscription from December 2022, but the release has only been announced for the USA for the time being. It is not yet known when the new Disney+ subscription will start in Germany.
