More ads on Netflix: in future, ads will also appear when you press pause
Advertising partners will be pleased: the cheapest tier of the streaming service is to receive additional advertising formats. AI will help with this.
(Image: Shutterstock.com/Daniel Avram)
Netflix wants to introduce new advertising formats for the cheapest subscription level. Among other things, the streaming service is planning to display ads even when playback is paused – a format that has become popular with streaming services and has also been implemented by YouTube and Amazon Prime Video in recent years.
The announcement comes from the streaming service's upfront event, at which Netfflix exchanges information with advertising partners. This explains the seemingly surprising openness in the announcement of new advertising formats – is well received by the audience.
In addition to ads during playback pauses, Netflix also wants to revise its so-called midroll ads, i.e., the familiar commercial breaks, with new options. According to the industry magazine Mediaplaynews, Netflix advertising boss Amy Reinhard spoke of AI-generated, interactive ads. It is unclear what this could look like in practice.
Netflix users watch advertising closely
“Our members pay just as much attention to midroll advertising as they do to the series and films themselves,” said Reinhard at the event, according to Mediaplaynews. The Netflix head of advertising also confirmed the trend that every second new Netflix customer opts for an advertising subscription.
In principle, Netflix only shows advertising to customers who have opted for this cheaper subscription model from 5 euros per month. Anyone with one of the other subscriptions will not see any advertising. However, Netflix is trying to attract more and more customers to the advertising subscription, which is more profitable for the streaming service than the traditional subscriptions. Last year, Netflix began kicking customers off the basic subscription, which is also quite cheap. If you want to watch Netflix without advertising, you now have to pay at least 14 euros per month for the standard subscription.
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According to Netflix, there are currently 94 million customers worldwide who have opted for an advertising subscription – and the trend is rising. It is therefore only a matter of time before the streaming service can celebrate the milestone of 100 million advertising customers.
(dahe)
