Welp, it’s official. Ads are finally coming to Netflix, but it’s not as bad as you think. We first heard rumors about the change earlier this year, and now Netflix could even create its own advertising business for the platform.

According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, Co-CEO Ted Sarandos confirmed a more affordable Netflix ad-supported tier is on the way. So, yes, ads are coming to Netflix, but not the way you probably thought.

Your Netflix account will not start seeing advertisements, and this will not affect current subscribers. Instead, the company aims to offer an additional ad-supported tier that’s more affordable for people who want it. According to Sarandos, the company has left a big customer segment off the table: the segment of people who are ok with seeing ads in favor of a lower price point. Now, Netflix looks to capture those customers and increase its userbase.

Basically, Netflix will introduce an ad tier, but they’re not integrating ads into the Netflix we all know, use, and love today. Well, at least not yet. The company wasn’t willing to say when they’ll arrive, but there’s a good chance it’ll be before the end of the year.

After losing over 200,000 subscribers during the first quarter of 2022, the company has moved fast to make some major changes. We’ve seen the streaming giant crack down on account sharing, and now it looks to gain even more users by offering a lower entry price.

Netflix Co-CEO suggested the company will start its advertising business with an established player, and “if it becomes so important that we want to have control over it, then we might.” Meaning we could see Netflix build its own service. The CEO also said, “I want our product to be better than TV.” suggesting the experience would be different than what TV customers are currently used to.

We don’t know when these are coming, how much the ad-supported tier could cost, or how long these commercials will be. Expect to learn more soon.

via TechRadar