Netflix is considering to charge you RM40 a month for a plan with ads. That’s insane!

Bloomberg reported that Netflix is considering to offer plans with ads priced from USD 7 (RM31.42) to USD 9 (RM40.39) a month. That’s currently about as high as the Standard plan in Malaysia (RM45). Granted, the price for Malaysian plans is likely to be lower, but would you pay so much money for a streaming plan with ads?

In the U.S., Netflix’s current Basic plan starts at USD 9.99 (RM44.84) per month, but it’s only for one user and it does not include HD streaming. For HD streaming, you’d have to pay at least USD 15.49 (RM69.52) for the Standard plan. And these plans don’t require you to watch any ads.

As for how much ads customers will be expecting, Bloomberg reports that Netflix plannned to show about four minutes of ads every hour—but they won’t place any at the end of a show or movie. It’s also telling advertisers it wants to make smaller deals upfront so it “doesn’t overpromise and overwhelm viewers with the spots”. However, the company says they won’t show advertising in kids’ programming. At least, not at first. 

Netflix also believes that the cheaper tier will both attract new price-conscious customers and give those ready to cancel a less-expensive alternative. It would all be handled by Microsoft Corp., Netflix’s exclusive advertising technology and sales partner. 

While the possible price of Netflix with ads is slightly cheaper then the plans without ads, I don’t know if it’s worth paying for a service that will give you ads anyway. It also doesn’t seem cheap enough.

Netflix plans in Malaysia are priced a lot cheaper—with a RM17 Mobile plan to a RM55 Premium plan with all the works. It makes sense that if Netflix is introducing a plan with ads in this country, it would be about half the price of the plan with no ads.

I currently pay for YouTube Premium for RM23.90 a month. Since I use YouTube a lot more often than I use Netflix, I have to say that it’s worth it not to get any ads as I use the platform. But to pay a lot more for a streaming platform that will still give you ads seems excessive and borderline scammy.

The new ad-based tier could arrive in half a dozen markets before the end of 2022, with a broader rollout planned for 2023. Would you pay for Netflix with ads?

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