90+% Of Netflix Users Would Rather Pay Than See Ads

Over 70% Of Netflix Users Would Rather Pay Than See Ads
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Why can’t Spotify be more like Netflix?

A study was conducted on user attitudes towards price inclines and increased ads on Netflix.  Specifically, the focus was on what effect this would have on the number of people paying for a subscription.

More than 1,200 respondents on Reddit were involved in the study, and the results were somewhat surprising. A massive 90% stated that they would prefer Netflix to increase the price of the subscription than see ads.

Over 70% Of Netflix Users Would Rather Pay Than See Ads
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For anyone who doubts that this is the case, in April, Netflix increased the subscription price by 25% for their 17 million recorded users.  The users response supported this study’s findings, as Netflix customers were surprisingly willing to pay for the increase with no questions asked.  Below are some of the Twitter comments following the price bump…

Over 70% Of Netflix Users Would Rather Pay Than See Ads
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Over 70% Of Netflix Users Would Rather Pay Than See Ads
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Over 70% Of Netflix Users Would Rather Pay Than See Ads
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Over 70% Of Netflix Users Would Rather Pay Than See Ads
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So, that was a $2 price hike. But where’s the breakpoint when people start cancelling their subscriptions?  And how much more would users pay to avoid ads?

Over 70% Of Netflix Users Would Rather Pay Than See Ads
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To answer this question, 57% of people said that they would be happy with a $1-2 increase, 22% said they would go as high as a $2-3 increase, and the remaining 21% are willing to accept more than a $3 price hike.

That’s how much Netflix customers would be willing to pay to avoid ads.  But what if Netflix went ahead and included ads anyway?  What portion of their customers would they lose?

Well, according to this study, 74% of people said they would outright cancel their subscription, with only 26% of people saying that they would continue to pay for the service after the inclusion of ads.

Over 70% Of Netflix Users Would Rather Pay Than See Ads
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(Image by moneyblognewz, Creative Commons, Attribution 2.0 Generic, cc by 2.0)

3 Responses

  1. Roger Bixley

    I don’t see how can you compare Spotify users, who enjoy a crippled yet popular free version, with Netflix users, for which there is no free version?

    I also don’t see you you can compare per-stream-obsessed labels who choose to put their content on Spotify with film and TV producers who choose to put their content on Netflix at a flat rate, regardless of how many times the content is streamed.

  2. Rick Shaw

    Funny about ads and TV…since I cut the cord, I forgot that cable TV used to force me to watch commercials.