People are threatening to unsubscribe from Netflix if it introduces adverts

Netflix revealed that it plans to introduce advertisements on the streaming platform to offer cheaper payment options for subscribers - but people are threatening to unsubscribe altogether.

Sure, the lack of the adverts is an advantage for viewers as they can freely move between each episode and film without having to sit through seconds or minutes of promotion for holidays, food and other upcoming shows.

That luxury adds to the monthly subscription cost for Netflix. But now, Reed Hastings, the co-CEO, spoke about the company's plans to introduce ads as an option during the company's quarterly earnings call on Tuesday (19 April).

In a report from The Hollywood Reporter, Hastings said that he was previously not for the "complexity of advertisement" and was a "big fan of the simplicity of subscription."

"But as much as I am a fan of that, I am a bigger fan of consumer choice," he said.

Sign upto our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter

He continued: "And allowing consumers who would like to have a lower price, and are advertising-tolerant, get what they want, makes a lot of sense."

This change is not likely to be impending, as Hastings said that Netflix would be looking into what exactly these new options will look like in the "next year or two," but bosses have still made their interest in this transparent.

He further also admitted that these plans came after it became "pretty clear" that the system was working for companies such as Hulu, HBO Max, and Disney+.

Hastings further said the new options would work similarly to those offered on Hulu, and tha the plan, which would include advertisements, wouldn't use data-tracking or ad-matching.

"In terms of the profit potential, definitely the online ad market has advanced, and now you don't have to incorporate all the information about people that you used to," he said, in part.

Although this could be good for other people who want to stream things on Netflix but might not have the means of the current subscription plans, that didn't stop people from taking to Twitter to share that they would unsubscribe from the platform.

Someone else thinks that the cost for the platform should be decreased instead overall and wrote:

Netflix's cheaper ad-based options aim to bring in more customers to the platform, which has lost 200,000 subscribers during its first quarter of business this year, despite previously expecting to gain an additional 2.5m subscribers.

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.