You wouldn’t pay for Netflix’s ad-supported plan

Netflix launched an ad-supported plan last week, coming months after the company first confirmed that it was working on such an offering. The plan starts at $6.99 a month and promises four to five minutes of ads per hour.

We wondered whether Android Authority readers would opt for this plan, so we put this question to you last week. Here are the results of that poll.

Would you pay $6.99/month for ad-supported Netflix?

Results

Almost 1,500 votes were cast in this poll, and it turns out that we’ve got a winner by a landslide. Yes, 79.14% of surveyed readers said they wouldn’t pay $6.99 a month for the Netflix Basic With Ads plan. Many reader comments reflecting this stance said they simply wouldn’t pay for a streaming plan that still offered ads.

Meanwhile, 14.25% of polled readers voted for “maybe, if it had more perks.” We’re guessing these readers would consider Netflix’s ad-supported plan if the video quality was better than 720p and if you had access to the entire library.

Finally, a mere 6.62% of respondents said they would indeed pay $6.99 a month for the plan. At least one reader suggested they were keen on this option after Netflix increased the price of their other plans.

Comments

• Valdez: Haven’t we been through this before? No to paying for ads.
• Shizuma: No way I would pay to also still get ads
• tigerberry: If it was free-with-ads and 720p tops, that would be one thing, that’s fine. If it wasn’t free, had ads, but at least had 1080p? Ehh, iffy, but I’d consider it. But 720p with ads, and they expect me to pay for it? No way.
• Walter Kowalski: Tough question to answer because get Netflix for free with T-Mobile
• Nox: Lol no, if they put ads into a paid sub then I move to another platform. The way streaming services are right now is the reason why I bought lifetime Plex, 50TB of HDD space and am torrenting movies/tv shows. I don’t care if it’s morally legal or not, I don’t want to give a dime to streaming platforms.
• KRB: Commercials are the price you pay for a free movie, such as on Roku. As a Roku user, why would I pay for a Netflix plan that includes ads when I can quite likely find something I’d like to watch on the Roku channel for free with commercials? Heck, the Roku will search and maybe something I’d like to watch is on another streaming service for free with or without commercials!
• andres_1: why would anyone pay for advertisers to shove their wares down your throat? not to mention that some shows won’t be available in this ad-supported service. real bad deal.
• James: Absolutely I would. £4.99 here in Britain. Yes I hate ads but the HD plan I had to let go due to cost.
• Albin: My guess is Netflix, like Tubi, will start pretty minimal to lure in new subscribers, but gradually force them to tolerate more ads or, in Neflix’s case pay more for ad-free tiers. It’s a matter of luring in and habituating new subscribers to make up for the post-pandemic slump.