Ted Sarandos (co-CEO and chief content officer) has been speaking at Cannes Lions advertising conference about Netflix’s plans to introduce adverts to the struggling streaming service. Netflix lost 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter of this year and are projected to lose a further two million in the second quarter. After making the announcement about the loss of subscribers, their share prices plummeted by 35%, shedding $54 billion in market capitalisation overnight.
According to Deadline, Sarandos would not comment on a commitment to any one advertising partnership, but he confirmed Netflix had started conversations with “all of them,” adding they “all have different solutions.”
The plan, he revealed, is to create “a pretty easy entry to the market, which we’ll build on and iterate to make Netflix a destination for users. What we’ll do first is not representative of what the product will be ultimately. Start light, keep it simple and iterate fast.” We wish we could explain what that means, but we’re not really sure either. It sounds as if they’re still in the early stages of planning, so it seems unlikely to happen before the end of this year.
Netflix blame password sharing amongst family and friends, as well as competition from other streaming services for their fall from grace this year. Netflix users blame the fact that they constantly cancel beloved TV shows, bury the actual good movies that are on the service, and price increases.
There certainly is a lot of competition for Netflix out there nowadays, with the likes of Prime Video, Apple TV, Hulu, HBO Max, Paramount Plus, Peacock and more to choose from.
If you’re having trouble deciding which one to plump for, check out our guide to the best streaming services.