Top Netflix managers have told staff that their plan is to now debut an ad-supported tier in the final three months of 2022, a marked acceleration over the "next year or two" timeline publicly described in April.
According to the New York Times, which cites two unnamed internal Netflix sources, the streaming company also in the same memo outlined plans to begin his much discussed crackdown on password sharers in the fourth quarter, as well.
Netflix hasn't commented.
On April 19, Netflix stock dropped 35% in after-hours trading on the Nasdaq, following the company's revelation that it lost 200,000 customers globally in the first quarter.
Netflix revenue growth, which had exceeded 20% during the pandemic, had slowed to under 10%.
With a return to growth in mind, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings quickly declared a reverse-course on his company's long dogmatic refusal to embrace a lower-priced tier partially supported by advertising.
"Those that have followed Netflix know that I’ve been against the complexity of advertising and that I'm a big fan of the simplicity of subscription,” Hastings said during his quarterly interview for shareholders. “But as much as I’m a fan of that, I’m a bigger fan of consumer choice. And allowing consumers who would like to have a lower price and are advertising-tolerant get what they want, makes a lot of sense.”
Netflix currently prices its most popular tier in the U.S. and Canada at $15.49 a month after a January price increase.
