Reed Hastings, Netflix Co-Founder, Chairman and Co-CEO, arrives for the Allen and Co. Sun Valley Annual Press Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, USA, on July 6, 2021.
Brian’s loss | Reuters
Netflix it could implement its lowest ad-supported price tier as soon as this year, a source familiar with the matter told CNBC.
Netflix executives told employees in a note that they were working to introduce the level in the last three months of 2022. That would put it on a much faster track than Netflix originally indicated. During his most recent earnings conference call, co-CEO Reed Hastings said the company was still figuring out the model and an option supported by advertising. would not be available in the service for a year or two.
But Netflix has struggled with a stagnant subscriber base and a plummeting stock, more than 71% to date. An ad-supported level could help attract and retain price-conscious consumers.
Netflix also hopes to start crack down on password sharing in that same period of time.
The company said last month that it estimates more than 100 million homes worldwide use a shared password to access your content – 30 million of them in the US and Canada. That contributed to revenue growth and subscriber pain, he said.
The New York Times first reported the accelerated schedule for the changes on Tuesday. A Netflix spokesperson declined to comment.