Netflix won’t, for the foreseeable future, go the way of Disney+ and create an advertising supported subscription tier.
Streaming platform Disney+ will have an advertising supported subscription offering by the end of 2022. The service will first be launched in the US and then moved to international markets. An option without ads will be available.
Netflix, in a briefing at a Morgan conference, says: “It's not like we have religion against advertising.”
Spence Neumann, the CFO of Netflix, says the current subscription model is working.
“We're focused on is building, optimising for long-term revenue, big profit goals, and we want to do it in a way that is a great experience for our members,” he told Ben Swinburne, Morgan Stanley's media analyst.
“We lean into consumer experience, consumer choice and what's great for our creators and storytellers.
“If at some point we determine something, we have the right to kind of play or win in the space and it meets those dimensions, then great. But that's not something that's in our plans right now.
“We think we have a great model in the subscription business. It scales globally really well.”
For 2021, Netflix grew revenue 19% to $US30 billion. The streamer had the biggest TV show of the year in Squid Game and Netflix was the most Emmy-winning and most nominated TV network and the most Oscar-winning and nominated movie studio of the year.
In Australia, the local service Stan has been a growth engine for its owner Nine Entertainment. Stan posted a 23% rise in revenue to $183.5 million in the six months to December, with current active subscribers of more than 2.5 million.
And Foxtel’s streaming subscribers grew 66%, according to News Corp's December quarter results. Paid subscribers were more than 3.9 million at the end of December, up 19% compared to the prior year, mainly due to the growth in BINGE and Kayo, partially offset by lower residential broadcast subscribers.
At Netflix, Neumann says growth is healthy across every region of the world.
“Again, never say never, but it's not in our plans,” he says. “:But other folks are learning from it, so it's hard for us to kind of ignore that others are doing it, but for now, it doesn't make sense for us.”
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.