Unbelievable but true, the platform that came to challenge the model of rental and television with a flat rate of endless content is increasingly moving closer to traditional forms… and what can I tell you. For now, you can congratulate yourself on the accumulation more than 40 million users who pay to watch their favorite movies and series through advertising.

It should be recalled that Netflix launched its plan with advertisements at the end of 2022, although it was not until the following year that it was extended to most of the markets in which the service operates. Be that as it may, initial adoption was rather timid, with barely five million users in the first six months of availability. During 2023, 23 million users will be reached…

And you see where we are: almost halfway through 2024, Netflix has practically doubled the number of users of what is now its basic plan, since the traditional one has become history in most countries. Now, if you want the bare minimum, it’s an ad-supported plan and over 40 million users have access to it. Little joke.

By the way, when we talk about users, we’re talking about paid accounts, and of the 270 million total users reported by Netflix in April 2024, 15% are already on the “Standard with Ads” plan. In addition, the outlook for Netflix is ​​optimistic in this sense: in the territories where the plan is available, it is the one that has chosen more than 40% of new registrations.

Good for Netflix, bad for users, because everything will go up: prices will go up, and so will the number of ads. In time, when. Meanwhile, here in Spain it is no longer possible to contract a basic tariff and you have to jump through the hoops of ads or dig deep into your pocket because the price restrictions are the most excessive in the industry.

Specifically, the three Netflix plans you can take out in Spain are:

• Standard with ads*: €5.49 per month
• Standard: €12.99 per month (with the option of an additional subscriber for €5.99 per month)
• Premium: €17.99 per month (with the option of an additional subscriber** for €5.99 per month)

The first two plans include in the default account the ability to watch content in Full HD on two devices simultaneously, while the third extends technical support up to 4K and up to four devices simultaneously… live under one roof… or under the same IP, it doesn’t matter .

I think, €17.99 per month to watch 4K content on a single device. Add to that – or subtract – the continued decline in the quality of Netflix’s output in recent years, and that the competition is getting tougher with better terms… But as they say, that’s another story.