Netflix launches Basic with Ads in select countries with Microsoft's help

After announcing it last month, Netflix has officially launched its ad-tier plan, Basic with Ads in select countries, including Canada, the United States, the UK, Australia, Japan, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, and South Korea. Users in Mexico and Spain will also be able to opt-in to the new ad-tier plan from November 10. The streaming giant had sought help from Microsoft to provide the advertising technolNetflix’sunch the ad-tier plan.

Netflix’s new plan starts at $6.99/month in the US. It does not include all the titles available for users subscribed to ad-free plans, but the company previously said that the limited content availability was due to “licensing restrictions.” Netflix also said that it was working on a fix to resolve the issue.

For those who want to know more about how Netflix will work with ads, here is what you need to know:

• It will include an average of four to five minutes of commercials in an hour.
• Ads will be 15 or 30 seconds in length.
• They will play before and during shows and films.

Apart from Basic with Ads, Netflix has Basic, Standard, and Premium plans, all of which give you an ad-free experience. Basic and Basic with Ads are basically the same, except that the latter shows you commercials and charges less than the former. The Basic with Ads plan will be available in other parts of the world in the future, but we do not know when that will happen.

In the meantime, those who opt-in to the ad-tier plan will see commercials from several of the world’s most recognized brands, such as GM, L’Oreal, McDonald’s, LVMH, Subway, Target, Heinz and Carnival Cruises. And if you are curious, Tiffany & Co.’s ad featuring Beyoncé was the first ad to ever run on the service in Canada on November 1, as highlighted by Netflix in its official blog post.

If Basic with Ads is available in your country, will you switch to it? Let us know in the comments section.