Netflix Results Seem Familiar


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When Netflix announced an ad-supported tier it felt like a rubicon had been crossed, like some of the fundamental contract of that service and streaming in general had been broken.

And now customers don’t seem to care

According to Netflix's latest earning data, it has 277 million subscribers and its ad-supported plan members now make up more than 45% of signups in markets where it offers ads. Turns out people are happy with ads if they make things cheaper. In its letter to investors, the company said:

We’re making steady progress scaling our ads business. Ads tier membership grew 34% quarter on quarter, and we’re building an in-house ad tech platform that we’ll test in Canada in 2024 and launch more broadly in 2025.

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The Addition

Charlotte Henry is a journalist and broadcaster who creates and runs The Addition newsletter and podcast; an award-winning publication looking at the crossover between media and technology.

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