What we didn't know and learned today alongside the announcement of the company's latest financial results, is that the new package will have less content.
Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos confirmed yesterday that Netflix's cheapest subscription - for which the company will partner with Microsoft - will not have all the content that subscribers to other subscriptions have access to. According to the same update, the new subscription will make its appearance early next year.
Those who plan to subscribe to Netflix's promotional package should expect to have access to all original series and movies that are created by the platform itself. However, the service still relies on content sourced through licenses from other studios and distributors, and it is expected that some of this may be excluded from the new subscription.
"Today, the vast majority of the content people watch on Netflix, we can include it in the new ad-supported subscription. However, there are movies and TV series that cannot be included and that's why we are in discussions with the studios. But if we launched the product today, users of the new subscription package would have a great experience. What is certain is that we will include some of that content in the service, but not all of it, which I don't think is a material impediment to the company," Ted Sarantos said during the latest financial results.
Netflix has announced for the first time its intentions to create a cheaper ad-based subscription package, shortly after its first drop in subscriber numbers in a decade. Last quarter 200,000 users left the service and the number is much higher for the latest quarter, where Netflix lost an additional 970,000 subscribers.
The other thing we're learning is that the new subscription won't immediately appear in all the countries where Netflix has a presence, with the service wanting to launch initially in "a handful of markets where advertising spend is significant". The company is feverishly testing ways to address the phenomenon of multiple people using an account away from home, announcing just yesterday a final test it is conducting in specific countries.
