Netflix, a global OTT (over-the-top) giant, has announced its ad-supported subscription plan for users. There have been talks around this particular plan for a long period now. The company had also confirmed that it would come out with an ad-supported subscription but hadn't given many details. However, on Thursday, Netflix announced that it would be bringing its ad-supported plan to users in 12 countries. In these 12 countries, one of the biggest markets for the company, India, wasn't included. The 12 countries that are on the list to initially get this ad-supported plan are - Brazil, Australia, Canada, Germany, France, Korea, Japan, Italy, Spain, Mexico, the UK and the US.
The company has also revealed the pricing details for the ad-supported plan. First of all, it is called the 'Basic with Ads' plan, and it will be arriving for the users on November 1 in Canada and November 3 in the U.S. and the U.K. In the U.S., this plan is going to cost $6.99 per month, and in Canada, it will be priced at CAD 5.99. In the UK, the price has been set at 4.99 pounds.
With this plan, the video quality of the content is capped at 720p/HD, and users will be served with an average of four to five minutes of ads per hour. The ads will be about 15 to 30 seconds in length each during the launch and will play before and during the shows and films. There will be a few TV shows and movies that won't be included in this plan because of licensing issues. Also, users will not be able to download any TV show or movie while on this plan.
Other plans remain the same as they were. India has not been included in the list of countries to get the new ads plan. Netflix will roll out this plan in a phased manner in other countries. India is also expected to get served with this plan at some point in the future.