According to a memo sent out to company employees, streaming platform Netflix is considering a number of options to increase its revenue, including speeding up the launch of its new subscription service that supports ads.
Netflix recently announced the results of their quarterly financial report, in which it was revealed that the service had lost over 700,000 subscribers, gaining just 500,000 in the process. This was the first time in over ten years that the company had actually reported a drop in subscriber rates, much less such a significant loss, with shareholders now trying to come up with ideas to repair the damage.
Recently the company was forced to fire a number of high profile editors and journalists that it had recently hired to work for Tudum, a website dedicated to fans which featured a series of interviews, talk shows, and other things related to the platforms most viewed shows.
Among the new ways that Netflix is looking to increase its revenue without significantly affecting its own image is opening up the platform to advertisers. The company has already announced its plans to do so, but what appears to have changed, according to a report by The New York Times, is the timing of this new update.
Based on a memo that was sent out to all Netflix employees, which the Times got a hold of, it seems that the company is speeding up the process of the launch of this new ad-supported service. Intially, Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings had stated that they planned to make this new option public “within the next year or two”, however according to an email sent out to all their teams, they now hope to release it by the end of the year.
Within their plans is also to shut down all shared accounts, giving initiatives to people who would previously watch shows on Netflix’s platform via someone else’s account to sign up to the service. According to industry analysts, this could be a way for the company to access a market of over 10 to 20 million people in the US alone.
According to the memo sent out to the employees, the crack down on shared accounts also appears to be moving forward ahead of schedule.
Other streaming providers, such as Disney+, have also shared their intentions to provide their subscribers with cheaper, ad-supported options, proving that marketers will finally have access to a highly coveted industry.
