Netflix Officially Adding Commercials
It's the end of an era for
Netflix. While the service has long been praised
for its total lack of ads and commercials, Netflix is reversing its course on the matter. On Tuesday,
Deadline reported that Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings said that ads will soon be incorporated into the service.
Hastings' comments come shortly after Chief Product Officer Greg Peters acknowledged that there would be differences
in pricing for subscriptions in different territories. Both Hastings and Peters discussed the current state of Netflix, and its future, during the company's first-quarter earnings call,
which was posted to YouTube on Tuesday. During the interview, the CEO noted that they will begin to implement advertising on Netflix in the "next year or two."
"One way to increase the price spread is advertising on low-end plans and to have lower prices with advertising," Hastings said. "Those who have followed Netflix know that I've been against the complexity of advertising and a big fan of the simplicity of subscription." Even though he has been against the incorporation of advertising in the past, he acknowledged that this would be a necessary step for the streaming platform. He also said that this would be a positive for Netflix subscribers, as it will give them "consumer choice" and the ability to choose a cheaper subscription, albeit one with advertisements.
