Bloomberg reported on Friday that Netflix is considering pricing its advertisement-supported subscription tier at US$7-US$9 per month. The company plans to rollout the new subscription plans in at least six markets from October through November.
The ad-supported accounts would stream four minutes of advertisements for every one hour of content streamed. The plan would cost approximately half as much as Netflix‘s US$15.49 subscription tier, which is currently its most popular plan.
Netflix commented to Variety about Bloomberg’s report, stating the report is “speculation at this point.”
Netflix stated in April it was considering adding an ad-supported streaming tier at a lower cost. Netflix made the announcement after stating it had a decrease of about 200,000 subscribers from January to March — far below the company’s earlier projection of a gain of 2.5 million subscribers. This was the service’s first drop in subscriptions in a decade.
Netflix announced in June that it was laying off 300 employees from its workforce. The Hollywood Reporter stated that the layoffs constituted around 3% of the company’s current workforce. Netflix laid off about 150 employees, mostly based in the United States, in May.
The streaming service implemented a price increase in subscription plans in the U.S. and Canada earlier this year.
Sources: Bloomberg (Lucas Shaw), Variety (Todd Spangler)