The hidden catch of Netflix-lite: Hit shows like Arrested Development, House of Cards, Peaky Blinders and The Good Place will not be on the new $6.99 subscription
- Netflix launched a $6.99 ad-based subscription plan on Thursday, which features four to five minutes of ads per hour
- The cheaper option will limit the number of programs available to the lower-tiered users, excluding many popular shows and movies
- Some programs will be unavailable for the ad-based subscribers, including: Arrested Development, House of Cards, Peaky Blinders, and The Good Place
- However, other popular shows like The Crown and Breaking Bad will still be available to viewers
- Ad-based subscribers will also not be able to download shows and movies for offline consumption
Netflix now offers a cheaper subscription plan filled with ads, but customers won’t be offered the full catalog of shows and movies.
Some of the platform’s most-watched shows, such as Arrested Development, House of Cards, Peaky Blinders, and The Good Place won’t be available under the new $6.99 plan – which will feature four to five minutes of ads per hour.
The streaming giant has not released a full list of shows that will be excluded, but unavailable titles will show a lock icon.
Ads will run 15 to 30 seconds in length, similar to rival Hulu’s ads plan, and play during shows and movies, Netflix said.
On average, consumers of all tv subscriptions are exposed to anywhere between six and 15 minutes of ads per one hour of programming on satellite TV services, like Spectrum and DirecTv.
Netflix launched a $6.99 ad-based subscription plan on Thursday, which features four to five minutes of ads per hour and excludes plenty of popular titles
Some of the platform’s most-watched shows, such as Arrested Development (left) and House of Cards (right)won’t be available under the new $6.99 plan – which will feature four to five minutes of ads per hour
Other popular shows like Peaky Blinders (left) and The Good Place (right) won’t be available either. The streaming giant has not released a full list of shows that will not be included, but those unavailable will show a lock icon
The Basic With Ads plan launched yesterday and is only available in 12 countries, including the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and France.
It cut around five to 10 percent of titles, depending on the country on the ad plan due to licensing restrictions, which Netflix said it is working through.
‘[A] limited number of movies and TV shows won’t be available due to licensing restrictions, and we’re going to be working on reducing that over time,’ COO Greg Peters said last month, according to Variety.
Another setback for ad subscribers is the inability to download programs for offline consumption. Accounts will also only allow one person to be stream on the account at a time.
The ad-based subscription is currently unavailable on Apple TV devices, but will be coming ‘soon,’ according to the company.
Netflix originally said an ad-based service would be introduced in 2023, but introduced it earlier due to reports of low subscribership.
Industry sources suspect the streaming giant introduced the ad version earlier than expected due to rival Disney+ adding an ad-based version starting December 8.
Shows and movies that won’t be available on Netflix’s ad subscription:
Shows:
- House of Cards
- Peaky Blinders
- New Girl
- The Magicians
- The Last Kingdom
- The Sinner
- Good Girls
- The Good Place
- Knight Rider
- Queen of the South
- Marlon
- Friday Nights Lights
- Uncoupled
- Arrested Development
Movies:
- Oblivion
- Man on a Ledge
- Robin Hood
- Steve Jobs
- The Butler
- Skyfall
- Casino Royale
- Quantum of Solace
- 28 Days
- Rambo
- Darkest House
- Made of Honor
- The Imitation Game
- Wanted
- Legend
- Blue Jasmine
- A Monster Calls
- Sing 2
- Morbius
- Road House
- The Miss
- The Old Fashioned Orgy
- Phantom Tread
- Contraband
- Tully
- Vice
- The Hateful Eight
- The Bad Guys
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