Netflix ad-supported plan launching November 3

Netflix has officially announced the release of its new ad-supported plan, 'Basic with ads', launching November 3 in nine countries for just $6.99/month.

The plan will be rolled out to 12 markets in Canada, Mexico, US, the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Australia, Japan, Korea and Brazil. Spain will also be able to access the plan but on November 10.

The streaming platform is successfully competing with its rival Disney+ by one month, which is also launching its ad-supported plan for $7.99/month on December 8.

In the announcement, Netflix did show intentions of expanding the ad-supported plan to more countries in the future but has yet to work out the rights to shows and movies for the plan. The company has stated that “A limited number of movies and TV shows won’t be available due to licensing restrictions, which we’re working on.”

According to Chief Operating officer at Netflix, Greg Peters, an approximate of 5-10% of the catalog may not be available to users who choose to switch the new plan. Moreover, the plan will stream videos at 720p HD instead of 1080p HD, along with no option for 4k viewing.

Ads are expected to be 15-30 seconds long, playing before and during the show or movie, while new movies will get pre-roll ads and no interruptions. The average limited ad loan would be 4-5 minutes of ads per hour.