Netflix Canceling Its Cheapest Ad-Free Package

Netflix's ad-free $11.99 plan is officially being phased out.

By Adam Barnhardt

You may soon be paying more for Netflix. During the streamer's latest round of earnings calls and communications, Netflix officials announced they're axing the platform's cheapest ad-free subscription plan. Currently available for $11.99 per month, users will now have to choose between the ad-supported $6.99 per month plan, or the more expensive $15.49 per month plan for the new cheapest ad-free option. As it stands now, the $11.99/month plan is the lone offering from Netflix that only allows one stream per household.

"Essentially, we're providing them a better experience, two streams versus one. We've got higher definition. We got downloads. And, of course, all at a lower price, $6.99 in the United States. We think that represents a tremendous entertainment value. And it includes ads," Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters said. "And for members who don't want that ads experience, they, of course, can choose our ads-free standard or premium plans as well."

The latest is the second such move of the past year that may end up unpopular with Netflix users. Earlier this year, Netflix officials applauded the service's crackdown on password sharing.

"We believe we've successfully addressed account sharing, ensuring that when people enjoy Netflix they pay for the service too," a letter Netflix sent out to shareholders this week reads. "Features like Transfer Profile and Extra Member were much requested, and many millions of our members are now taking advantage of them."

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They continued, "At this stage, paid sharing is our normal course of business — creating a much bigger base from which we can grow and enabling us to more effectively penetrate the near term addressable market of ~500M connected TV households (excluding China and Russia), which should increase over time as broadband penetration rises."

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