Netflix set to stream ads this year amid slow user growth

SAN FRANCISCO: Battered by slow growth and diminishing global user base, Netflix has fast forwarded its plans to bring ads right into its TV shows and movies.

According to The New York Times, the streaming platform has shifted its plans to infuse advertisements into its content by the end of this year.

"Netflix has told employees that ads may come by the end of 2022," the report said late on Tuesday.

Executives were earlier planning to introduce ad-supported, lower-priced subscription tier in the "next year or two" but have now shifted the plans to an earlier launch date.

According to the report, a recent note to employees said that Netflix executives are now aiming to introduce the ad tier at some point in the last three months of 2022.

The company will also announce new measures to crack down on password sharing by the end of the year.

The streaming giant Netflix saw its stock tumbling by 20 per cent after it reported a loss of 2 lakh paid subscribers in the first quarter of 2022 -- its first subscriber loss in over a decade.

Moreover, Netflix now forecasts a global paid subscriber loss of 20 lakh for the second quarter (Q2) this year.

After posting disastrous results for its March quarter, Netflix also laid off several experienced journalists and writers working for its entertainment site Tudum which it launched only in December last year.

Earlier this month, a shareholder lawsuit in the US alleged that Netflix misled investors about declining subscriber growth over the course of six months leading to a massive drop in its stock price.