Fewer ads and downloads coming to Netflix's ad-supported plan

In November 2022, Netflix launched an ad-supported subscription plan (called ‘Standard with ads’ which costs $6.99 per month in the US), giving people a more affordable option to stream videos on the platform. Now, exactly one year later, the company has announced that it would soon make the ad-supported plan even better by adding more benefits, including reducing the number of advertisements people see while binge-watching and allowing them to download content for offline viewing.

Starting from Q1 2024, people with the ad-supported plan, after watching three episodes consecutively with advertisements, will be able to watch the fourth episode without any ads. According to Netflix, this move will come as a part of the company’s new “binge ad (wt)” format which will allow advertisers to tap “into the viewing behaviour of watching multiple episodes in a row.”

As for the ability for people with the ad-supported subscription plan to download content for offline viewing, Netflix says “All members of the ad-supported plan will be able to download their favourite series and movies, making Netflix the only ad-supported streamer to offer downloads”. According to the company, this feature will become available “by the end of this week.”

Netflix has hiked subscription prices

While Netflix hasn’t changed the price of the ad-supported plan since it was launched, the company recently increased the prices of other subscription plans, making this the second price hike in the last 20 months. Along with it, Netflix has recently announced the company’s first live sports event ever, the Netflix Cup, and it also plans to open physical stores in the US soon.