Google, NBCUniversal Lead Bid for Link to Netflix Ad-Supported Subscription Plan: Report

Alphabet’s Google and Comcast’s NBCUniversal are leading the race for a tie-up with Netflix to help it create an ad-supported subscription plan, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing sources.

Comcast’s video advertising division, Freewheel, can help Netflix with technology to deliver ads, while NBCUniversal’s sales team can help the streaming service provider sell ads in the US and Europe. adds the report.

Google, which already has a relationship with Netflix as a provider of ad buying tools, could strike an exclusive deal with the company, according to the report.

Netflix, Alphabet and Comcast did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

Netflix said in April that inflation, the war in Ukraine and fierce competition had contributed to a loss of subscribers for the first time in more than a decade.

The company could introduce its low-cost ad-supported subscription plan by the end of the year, earlier than originally planned, as previously reported.

Last month, two people who had access to Netflix’s internal memo shared it with The New York Times, which reveals that Netflix executives are aiming to launch the ad-supported tier between October and December 2022. It’s unclear not at this point how Netflix’s foray into ads will work, as it’s one of the only ones in the world – between Disney+, HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Hulu, Peacock and Paramount+ – to offer several packages that differentiate the video quality and the number of simultaneous screens, and not content. Will there be an ad-supported version of Netflix’s Mobile, Basic, Standard and Premium plans? This seems likely, as it would allow Netflix to broadly target customers.

© Thomson Reuters 2022