Netflix: will the platform soon become free?

While most streaming platforms tend to raise their prices, Netflix’s co-CEO has announced that company executives are “open” to the idea of ​​creating a free service, funded by The advertisement.

The year 2023 promises to be synonymous with new things for Netflix and its subscribers. After the launch of its offer with advertising at a reduced price, Netflix intends to move up a gear by making account sharing chargeable within a few weeks. But the streaming juggernaut isn’t going to stop there. To attract ever more customers, the big shots of the American company would consider the creation of a free streaming service and fully ad-supported. But should we believe it? When asked on the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call, new co-CEO Greg Peters passed the question on to colleague Ted Sarandos.

“We keep an eye on this segment“says the co-CEO of Netflix

At the helm of Netflix since 2020, co-piloting with founder Reed Hastings, content director Ted Sarandos has often been presented as the man who had to reinvent the SVOD giant to face increasingly fierce competition. “We are open to all these different models that currently exist“, said Sarandos, adding that “we are keeping an eye on this segment, of course“, relay The Hollywood Reporter. But don’t expect a free Netflix option in the coming months. Sarandos recalled that Netflix had “lots to do this year“, in particular with the repression around the sharing of passwords, and the launch of advertising. Since last November 3, it has been possible to subscribe to a new formula at 5.99 euros per month called “Netflix Essential with pub”, i.e. three euros less than the “Classic Essential” offer.

Netflix Essential: a cheaper offer with advertising

If Netflix had always refused to develop this economic model, even making the absence of advertising a selling point, the significant loss of subscribers at the start of the year forced the streaming platform to change its tune. The only downside: this new subscription is not compatible with Apple TV boxes, a temporary problem that the company has promised to fix “soon”. Although the company registers 230.75 million paying subscribers and a turnover of 31.6 billion dollars in 2022 which allows it to exceed its forecasts, Netflix has just lost its number 1 place in the United States. United for the benefit of Amazon Prime Video. A particularly difficult year for the firm, which announced at the same time announced the departure of Reed Hastings, the co-founder of Netflix in 1997, who gave way to Greg Peters, the new co-CEO alongside Ted Sarandos. Like Jeff Bezos at Amazon, Hastings will remain executive chairman of the company’s board.

Article written in collaboration with 6Médias