Netflix fans upset over new adverts that cut characters off mid-sentence
Netflix subscribers are upset that they have to either pay £3 more each month or watch 30-second adverts.
On 4 June, the streaming service scrapped its £7.99 Basic plan. Users have been automatically moved over to the Standard with adverts plan, which costs £4.99 / month. To avoid watching adverts, viewers will have to upgrade to the Standard £10.99 / month plan, costing them an extra £36 each year, or the £17.99 / month Premium plan, which will set them back £120 more each year.
Subscribers were unimpressed with this change.
One X user complained: “Netflix can f*** off with their adverts. Everybody needs to unsubscribe until they drop them. Don’t upgrade for twice the price for ad-free. It’s pure greed.”
Another viewer wrote on X: “Nahh netflix really has adverts!? Are you having a laugh. Lemme cancel cuz you can’t stress me with ads and take my money.”
Reddit users claimed that the adverts sometimes malfunction and cause the app to freeze, and that the adverts sometimes cut characters off mid-sentence.
The adverts range between 15-30 seconds long. According to a survey by Variety, 19 per cent of US Netflix subscribers were using the Basic plan at the end of April – about 20 million Americans.
This introduction of adverts is in spite of Netflix’s founder and CEO Reed Hastings promising in 2018 that Netflix would never have adverts on its site.
The Netflix Help Center website says: “A small percentage of devices that can play on ad-free Netflix plans can’t be used with an ad-supported Netflix plan. This is because the Netflix app or software on the device can’t be updated to a version that supports ads.”
So, some subscribers with older TVs may not be able to use the cheaper Standard with adverts plan, and will have to upgrade to the Standard £10.99 / month version.
Several TV shows and movies cannot be shown with adverts in due to licensing restrictions, so people on the Standard with adverts plan will be unable to watch them. Variety estimates that this is between 5-10 per cent of content. In the US, this currently includes The Walking Dead, House of Cards, Peaky Blinders and The Good Place. Some Sony movies such as Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and No Hard Feelings can’t be viewed without adverts.
Netflix’s shift to advertising is one of many measures intended to boose its revenue, such as its crackdown on password sharing.
