Netflix’s ad-supported subscription tier is coming to Australia this year, potentially as soon as November, as the streaming platform attempts to bounce back from its recent financial struggles and beat competitor Disney+ to the punch.
The news comes after Netflix partnered with Microsoft in July to aid the tech requirements of the new subscription level, which is currently expected to be priced at $8 per month, and on top of a report in May showing that the streaming giant was losing subscribers hand over fist.
Microsoft have reportedly requested initial bids from potential ad buyers this week as part of the combined attempt to pull forward the release of the new service.
While the idea of a cheaper ad-based subscription has been a consideration for the platform for some time, the fact that it’s likely to drop before the end of this year comes as something of a shock given the short timeline it has been under development for. The original plan laid out by Netflix’s co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Reed Hastings suggested the ad-based option wouldn’t be available until 2023 at the earliest.
One likely reason for the speedy roll-out is to keep up with competition – both Paramount and Amazon Prime currently have an ad-based option available, and Disney+ is expected to jump on the bandwagon in the near future as well.
Since Disney is targeting a launch of its new subscription tier on December 8, it would appear that Netflix is aiming to get the jump on its competitor with the move to a November release.
There is no word yet on which advertisers are expected to use the new service, but Microsoft are hoping for “big bids” in an attempt to get Netflix’s revenue back on track.
