Netflix just got cheaper – £4.99 ad-supported plan out in the UK soon

The leading streaming service has announced a new ad-supported plan that will cost just £4.99 a month. And it’s launching in the UK soon, with the Basic with Adverts plan available from 4pm UK time on Thursday November 3. The ad-supported Netflix plan will be the cheapest membership package available, costing £2 less than the Basic tier and £4 less than the Standard tier (which is the most popular option around).

While this new Netflix plan launches at a great price there are a few big caveats.

Subscribers will have to sit through adverts that last between 15 to 30 seconds, with these commercials airing before and during a programme.

Not only that, but the ad-supported Netflix plan will have a smaller library than the regular plans without ads.

It has been confirmed that around five to 10 percent of series will not be available with this new, cheaper Netflix package.

A Netflix spokesperson said: “A limited number of films and TV series won’t be available due to licensing restrictions, which we’re working on; there’s no ability to download titles.”

It hasn’t been confirmed which series won’t be available on the ad-supported plan.

And while downloading titles for offline viewing won’t be available with this new cheaper plan at launch it could get added in the future.

Despite all of these caveats, there is plenty to love about this brand new Netflix plan.

Besides being the cheapest Netflix package available, it will also offer something that the current Basic package doesn.

The ad-supported Netflix plan will support HD streaming in 720p, whereas the current cheapest package offers non-HD streaming in 480p.

This isn’t as good as the Full HD streaming the Standard Netflix plan offers but will still be a big jump in resolution over the Basic plan.

The £4.99 price tag also has helped Netflix undercut the competition to offer the cheapest streaming package available on the market right now in the UK.

Prime Video – which is Netflix’s biggest rival – costs £5.99 a month while Disney+ is £7.99 a month, and Paramount+ which launched in the UK a few months ago is £6.99 a month.

Of course, these prices are for services that don’t have ads. But even comparing Netflix’s pricing to other ad-supported packages puts the Stranger Things makers in a good position.

Ad-supported plans for streaming services have so far largely been launched in the US.

And the pricing for Netflix’s ad-supported plan in the US compares favourably to other similar packages.

Netflix’s Basic with Adverts plan in the US is priced at $6.99 a month, which is less than a dollar more than Hulu’s ad-supported plan ($6) and a few dollars more than Paramount and Peacock’s comparable plan ($4).

It’s significantly cheaper though than HBO Max with adverts which is priced at $10 a more and will be less than the Disney+ ad-supported plan.

The House of Mouse has confirmed the pricing of its ad-supported package which will launch in the US in December.

Currently, Disney+ without ads is priced at $7.99 a month in the States. And that’s the same price the ad-supported plan will be available for, with Disney+ without ads costing $10.99 a month.

Netflix has this year seen subscriber numbers drop amid increased competition from the likes of Disney+ and Prime Video.

But this new, cheaper plan could be the perfect antidote to Netflix’s flagging user numbers – which could bring back former customers that cancelled their subscriptions and entice new ones over.

The ad-supported Netflix plan will be available in 12 countries including the UK, US, France, Germany, Australia and Canada.

Speaking about the new membership tier Greg Peters, Netflix’s COO and chief product officer, said: “In short, Basic with Adverts is everything people love about Netflix, at a lower price, with a few adverts in-between.

“Starting in November, signing up will be easy – visit Netflix.com, and register with your email, date of. birth and gender to get started.

“Basic with Adverts also represents an exciting opportunity for advertisers – the chance to reach a diverse audience, including younger viewers who increasingly don’t watch linear TV, in a premium environment with a seamless, high-resolution adverts experience.”