One of the most anticipated announcements of the year, although by the time we expected it to be 2023, it was the one with the ad-supported Netflix plan. You will remember that at the beginning of the year the company said that it did not plan to launch an economic plan with advertising, the statement was dismissed shortly after, saying that it was being studied, although it would not arrive until 2023 or so. 2024. Maybe it was a bluff, or maybe the company was under pressure, but the fact is that it was later suggested that the plan could debut this year. And just over a month ago, there was a rumor that November 1st could be the day chosen for its launch.

In said rumor, it was suggested that Netflix would opt for the first release United States, Great Britain, Canada, France and Germany, among other countries. That is, an ambitious start, which indicated to us that cooperation with Microsoft would be quite effective. And speaking of prices, there were rumors in late August that Netflix’s ad-supported plan could cost between $7 and $10, which is pretty wide and, in my opinion, a bit concerning.

Doubts are finally gone and the fact is that the company has already published all the details of this plan and we can confirm that, with some adjustments, many of these rumors have turned out to be correct, although it is necessary to introduce some nuances from an international perspective. But hey, let’s start with the most important, so now you must be waiting to know: Netflix’s ad-supported plan will premiere between November 1 and 10 in 12 countries, including Spain (for us it will be 10.)and here its price will be 5.49 euros per month. Its price in the United States, just one cent below the expected range, $6.99 per month. And as for Mexico, the next Spanish-speaking country they will also arrive in will do so 99 Mexican pesos per month.

The twelve countries where Netflix’s ad-supported plan will debut are Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Korea, Spain, United Kingdom and United States of America. A very ambitious launch, as I mentioned before, and it seems to be a response to Disney +. whose advertising plan will debut this year in the United States and leaves its international expansion until 2023. As I said before, or Netflix was bluffing by talking about such long dates (2023 or 2024) that its rivals would take it easy, which would was a very smart move, or he felt more than ever the pressure of the competition and decided not to press the gas pedal anymore, but to activate the nitrous oxide kit.

Ad-supported Netflix plan restrictions

It is clear that if we are talking about a cheaper plan than the existing ones, the prices of which will not change with this launch, it will have certain limitations compared to the previous ones. Some decided by the platform itself and others forced by factors beyond Netflix’s absolute control. To understand what the ad-supported Netflix plan offers we have to go by what is included in the basic plani.e. 7.99 euros per month, but with the following additional restrictions:

• As we have already told you, some content (not owned by Netflix) will not be available for license restrictionsalthough Netflix says it is working on a fix.
• It will not be possible to download content watch offline.

The maximum picture quality will be shared between the Netflix ad-supported plan and the basic plan, HD (720p).

As for ad insertion, on average 4-5 minutes of ads are shown per hour (each ad is no more than 30 seconds in length, although it’s not clear if they can be shown in blocks), both at the beginning of the content as during them, and of course the ads are unskippable using the navigation controls. In this regard, of course, a very important point and, in my opinion, quite a positive one Ads will not appear on children’s profiles.

Of course, it is still not possible to contract the Netflix plan with advertising, the question is whether the company will allow the management of the registration in the subscription to it (or the change of modality, for users who want to switch to the said plan) in advance, in order to avoid problems that may arise on the day of launch, if there is a large participation of users who want to hire it.

What do you think of Netflix’s ad-supported plan? When talking about it with some colleagues, they find it expensive and don’t feel that the savings of the ad plan over the basic one compensates for the limitations it brings (apart from the ad of course), while I think it’s quite tight especially in Spain because Under the most favorable conditions for our country, Netflix not only did not apply the euro-dollar parity, but chose an even cheaper offer. What do you think?