Goodbye binge-watching: Netflix, others bringing back ad breaks in coming weeks
Global News
Netflix says subscribers will get a cheaper option and be presented with an average of four to five minutes of ads per hour played before and during their TV shows and films.
Canadian Netflix users will see a new membership option starting Tuesday that costs less but comes with a catch: commercial breaks inserted into their favourite shows.
After years of uninterrupted binge-watches, the world’s largest streaming service is making way for a word from its sponsors. And as inflation continues to pinch consumers, the proposal of a cheaper Netflix plan may sound enticing to some.
Netflix isn’t alone in believing that commercial television is back in a big way.
Several free ad-supported streaming services will launch in Canada over the coming weeks, all of them built on a business model that taps into the country’s multi-billion advertising industry to finance and acquire programming.
Analysts say together the platforms could reshape how we watch and pay for television. More viewers are complaining that streaming costs have soared near the level of their old cable bills, which has pressured each service to reconsider its business model.
“Consumers are faced with more choice, more platforms and are making m
ore deliberate decisions as to which streaming services they keep and which ones to cancel,” said Justin Krieger, senior technology and media analyst at consultancy firm RSM Canada.
Of the newcomers, Pluto TV debuts on Dec. 1 with more than 100 channels of free TV series, movies and sports that stream “live” online on a platform that mimics the experience of channel surfing, complete with the commercials.