In its Q4 2023 earnings report from earlier today, Netflix announced that starting in Q2 2024, its cheapest ad-free “Basic” plan will be completely gone in Canada and the UK. You haven’t been able to sign up for this tier since last July, but now, even current subscribers will no longer be able to keep their ‘Basic’ plan, which was originally $10 or £7 per month but bumped up to $12 or £8 in October. In other words, you’ll basically be forced into one of the two more expensive ad-free packages (from $16.49 or £11 per month) or the cheaper ad-supported plan ($6 or £5 per month).

It’ll be interesting to see which side the current user base will lean towards when they eventually have to make their decision, but it’s clear that Netflix wants to boost its ad business, rather than relying too much on the constant price hikes — as is the case with the entire streaming market, it seems. After all, the ads plan currently accounts for 40 percent of all Netflix sign-ups in its ads markets, according to the earnings report. We wouldn’t be surprised if the same will be applied to the US before long. “We’re looking to retire our Basic plan in some of our ads countries, starting with Canada and the UK in Q2 and taking it from there,” Netflix added.

The company is also seeing success in gaming, with user engagement in this area tripled in 2023. The Grand Theft Auto trilogy, which only arrived on the platform on December 14, is credited as Netflix’s “most successful launch to date in terms of installs and engagement… with some consumers clearly signing up simply to play these games.” But the firm added that it’s still early days compared to the scale of Netflix’s core streaming business, with no figures significant enough to share just yet. Who knows, maybe we’ll see another leap with the 2024 gaming lineup.