Stephen: Netflix prepping subscription tier with ads

Netflix will be partnering with Microsoft on a new cheaper, ad-supported subscription plan, both companies announced yesterday (July 13th). However, a time frame for its debut wasn’t given, and Netflix said the option is still in its, quote, “very early days.” Microsoft’s ad sales unit will be involved in creating the new tier, with Netflix’s chief operating officer Greg Peters saying in a statement that “Microsoft offered the flexibility to innovate” in technology and sales, and pledged strong privacy protections for Netflix members. The news comes after Netflix lost subscribers in the first quarter of 2022 for the first time in more than a decade, and also predicted in April that it expected to lose another two million in the second quarter.