Netflix continues to plummet into financial disasters, months into this year, following a massive subscriber exodus, dwindling interest in the quality of content and falling stock prices.
While the streamer has had a fairly successful 2021 with releases like Squid Game and the final season of Money Heist amassing massive revenue, 2022 seemed to be an absolute disaster for the company.
Now, to cope with their losses, the streamer has confirmed the launch of the long-rumoured ad-supported subscription tier system. Additionally, they have laid off 300 members of its staff across several divisions of the company, mainly in the United States.
This lay-off comes just a few weeks after the company let go of 150 employees from the social media and marketing departments. This number did not include the numerous freelancers and contractors who lost their jobs.
Co-CEO Reed Hastings had previously talked about how they are looking forward to using advertising to make the platform cheaper, given the current spike in subscription prices which has led to subscriber losses.
Hastings said, “Those who have followed Netflix know that I have been against the complexity of advertising, and a big fan of the simplicity of subscription. But as much as I am a fan of that, I am a bigger fan of consumer choice. And allowing consumers who would like to have a lower price, and are advertising-tolerant get what they want, makes a lot of sense.”
Co-CEO Ted Sarandos had previously talked about the advertising system during the Cannes Lions advertising festival previously. He is intent on launching a subscription tier for a certain demographic, namely, “People who say: ‘Hey, Netflix is too expensive for me and I don’t mind advertising’.”
Stay tuned for more updates about Netflix’s venture into the ad-based subscription system.
