Netflix is considering introducing advertisements to its streaming platform as early as October 2022, according to an internal note to employees seen by the New York times.

Despite Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings having long been against introducing ads to the platform, saying in a 2020 interview with Variety that “we want to be the safe respite where you can explore, get stimulated, have fun, enjoy, relax — and have none of the controversy around exploiting users with advertising”, a lower-tier price plan which includes ads is now under consideration, according to documents reported by the New York Times.

The reports come at a time when Netflix is losing subscribers for the first time in a decade as of the end of the first quarter of 2022.

A letter sent to shareholders on 19 April 2022, showed that the streaming giant was losing subscribers – a 200,000 drop to 221.64 million from 221.84 million by the end of the first quarter of 2021. (22?)

Following the release of the first quarter results, Netflix shares plunged 30 per cent, wiping $47 billion off its value.

Netflix partly attributed the subscriber drop-off to widespread password sharing across households, having claimed that 100 million households globally are watching Netflix on someone else’s account without paying for access.

In a further attempt to shore up the sharp drop in stock value stemming from the loss in subscribers, Greg Peters, chief operating officer at Netflix, said that while the company is “not trying to shut down that sharing", it is "going to ask you to pay a bit more to be able to share".

Share Story: