Netflix Could Be Adding Adverts Sooner Than We Thought

Netflix has had a rough year so far. In this year’s first financial quarter the company announced a net loss of 200,000 subscribers when it previously predicted a rise of 2.2 million.

Since then, it lost over $50 billion from its market cap in a single day and it ended up cancelling a number of its films and shows. It is reportedly being sued by media companies in Russia over pulling the service in the country, as well as a lawsuit which has been set up by shareholders claiming the company tried to hide declining numbers of both revenue and subscribers. To combat this, Netflix has said it was considering a new lower-tier which will contain ads, and it seems it’s coming sooner than anyone thought. 

The upcoming fourth season of Stranger Things is one of the biggest budgeted shows for the service. Watch the latest trailer below. 

According to a report by The New York Times, the new advertisement based subscription tier could become available in the last three months of the year. Two employees at the company shared documents with the paper saying as such, under the assumption that their identities would remain anonymous.

In a prior meeting with investors, co-chief executive Reed Hastings had mentioned the possibility of a lower priced tier but had said that the company would “figure it out over the next year or two.” However, with the recent drastic drops in share prices it seems that emergency measures are going ahead quicker than expected.

NYT claims the documents it viewed say that Hastings thinks the move is “fast and ambitious and it will require some trade-offs”. Netflix has not officially commented on the statement.

The recent drop in subscribers is apparently due to the company increasing prices at all tiers, and the suggestion that it will begin charging for password sharing.