Netflix has confirmed that it now plans to “retire” its Basic plan, and will begin the process next month with Canada and the UK before phasing out the cheapest ad-free tier in other countries.
Netflix has made a number of changes to its plans in the U.S. over the past couple of years. Most notably, the introduction of the Basic with ads plan towards the end of 2022. That plan was then rebranded as the Standard with ads plan, and not long after, the Basic plan was completely removed as an option for new subscribers in the United States.
As part of the company’s fourth quarter earnings report released today, Netflix confirmed that it now plans to continue phasing out the Basic plan. This will begin in the second quarter of 2024 with the retiring of the Basic tier in Canada and the UK. Similar to the US, the Basic tier had already been removed in Canada and the UK as an option for new subscribers.
The removal of the $9.99/month ($11.99 for existing subscribers following the latest price increase) Basic plan in the U.S. was notable as it left somewhat of a chasm between the two cheapest tiers. While the the Standard with ads plan only costs $6.99 a month, the absence of the Basic plan meant those looking to upgrade to an ad-free tier needed to pay a minimum of $15.49 a month.
With this price difference in mind, it should not come as too much of a surprise that the cheaper ad-supported tier is proving popular with new customers. According to Netflix, “the ads plan now accounts for 40% of all Netflix sign-ups in our ads markets.” Earlier this month, Netflix’s Amy Reinhard confirmed the company’s ‘with Ads’ plan had more than 23 million global monthly active users.
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