Netflix Ends Its Cheapest Ad-Free Plan for Good

Even if you used to be grandfathered in.

In January, Netflix stated it was sunsetting its Basic plan, the streamer’s cheapest ad-free subscription, in the U.K. and Canada. This week, the axe finally dropped on users in the United States and France: The $11.99-a-month Netflix Basic is being discontinued for both new and existing customers. If you were a Basic subscriber before and don’t want to watch Netflix with ads, going forward you’ll be prompted to pick one of the streaming service’s other plans — the Standard plan for $15.49 a month or the Premium for $22.99 a month.

As we noted earlier this year, Netflix’s strategy then and now is to continue to sign users up for its far more lucrative ad-supported plans. Despite its lower price point, Netflix makes a lot more money per user off its Standard With Ads plan, offered at $6.99 per month, thanks to what it makes back from advertisers. On Thursday, the company reported reaching a record high of 277.65 million subscribers — growth powered partly by both a 34 percent jump in sign-ups to that cheaper plan and its ongoing crackdown on password sharing.

Earlier

• Netflix Looks to Kill Its ‘Basic’ Plan (Again)