Netflix’s cheap subscription gets two big upgrades

It’s now in 1080p, with two devices able to watch at the same time
Netflix’s £4.99 tier is now better than the £6.99 version in some respects
PA Archive
Alan Martin20 April 2023

Netflix has announced changes to its cheapest subscription tier, making it a whole lot more appealing.

While users of the £4.99-per-month subscription will still see around four minutes of adverts per hour, Netflix has highlighted two significant quality-of-life improvements, coming this month.

Firstly, the resolution is being bumped up from 720p (HD) to 1080p — that’s what’s known as Full HD and contains more than double the pixels. In short, shows and movies will appear sharper and more detailed, assuming you have a screen that can support the resolution (which includes most phones and televisions made in the last decade).

Secondly, while subscribers to the ‘Basics with adverts’ tier could previously watch on only one supported device at a time, Netflix will soon let subscribers watch on two screens simultaneously. In other words, it just got a lot more appealing to couples, with one party able to watch Obsession on their TV while the other binge-watches Love is Blind on a phone.

The improvement is coming to all 12 markets where the ad-supported tier is an option, starting with Canada and Spain today, and rolling out to all others this month.

What’s interesting about the change is that it makes the £4.99 tier slightly better than the £6.99 version in some respects. Though the higher-priced option doesn’t have adverts, it remains stuck at 720p and allows only one stream at a time.

And while the £6.99 version does allow you to download shows to watch offline — something the ad-supported version doesn’t, because it can’t stream commercials — it does feel like Netflix is trying to wean people off it as an option. It’s already hidden for new sign-ups, becoming visible only when interested parties click the “see all plans” button on the sign-up page. This suggests Netflix would rather choose something cheaper or more expensive.

With Netflix’s long-trailed clampdown on password sharing coming into effect later this year, the improvements to the cheapest tier could also be designed to tempt those currently piggybacking shared accounts into paying for their own. The company has already made it easier to export profiles so that personalisation and watch lists won’t be lost, and this feels like another step to make the transition easier.

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