Netflix has announced a new, cheaper subscription launching in Australia on the 4th of November.

It’s welcome news for anyone who’s hoping to save some cash on their streaming budget. The service, called Basic with Ads, will cost $6.99 per month, and as the name suggests, will feature ads. It’s currently launching in 12 countries, including Australia and the US.

The commercials – which you won’t be able to skip – will last between 15-30 seconds each and take up about four or five minutes of every hour of Netflix streamed, playing before and during your movie or tv show. While the new subscription level is perfect for anyone who wants to cut costs, apparently not all movies and tv shows will be available on Basic with Ads due to licensing restrictions.

One maybe non obvious impact is that this will change the way every story is broken at Netflix from now on as writers will have to build in hard act breaks. Even if you’re watching the non ad version the story can no longer be completely continuous. https://t.co/hJBBWDPVol

— David H. Steinberg (@DavidHSteinberg) October 13, 2022

The move is somewhat surprising considering that Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings was previously vehemently against the inclusion of ads. Yet it comes after Netflix lost almost a million subscribers in the first half of 2022 due to the rise of competitors and a rocky global economy. Even still, Netflix remains the largest streaming service in the world with more than 220 million subscribers.

Currently, the cheapest service is Basic at $10.99 which allows you to watch Netflix on one screen at a time, followed by Standard, which costs $16.99 and allows two screens to watch at the same time. These services, which are both currently ad-free, will remain on offer.

Netflix launching a subscription with ads is just so poetic. They’ve come full circle and become the very thing they sought to destroy. Wonder what the future of streaming looks like right now

— vibz (@vibhamasti) October 13, 2022