Netflix Quietly Makes Another Unpopular Move After Raising Prices
Back in March, Netflix raised its prices for its ad-supported Basic tier. Now, it sounds like the streaming giant is making yet another unpopular move for customers.
After already raising the price on its most inexpensive product, Netflix is quietly moving forward with a plan to add even more ads to its Basic tier as it looks to maximize its profit from the plan.
More Ads Are Coming
Netflix introduced its Basic tier back in 2022, introducing an ad-supported tier at a lower price than the premium subscriptions with no ads. The Basic tier initially started at $6.99, but Netflix raised the price to $8.99 back in March, and there's been no shortage of demand.
During its 2026 upfront presentation, Netflix announced that its Basic users have more than doubled, as the service now has more than 250 million people around the globe after it previously reported 94 million users last year. With that surge in users, Netflix announced that it earned $1.5 billion from ads last year.
As the number of users has expanded radically in recent years, it sounds like Netflix is looking to take advantage by introducing even more ads to those users.
According to The Verge, Netflix said that beginning next year, it will begin showing ads in the vertical video feed that it recently launched on its mobile app, as well as during the podcasts that it began adding to the streaming service in late 2025.
Additionally, Netflix announced that it will be testing a new personalization tool that adjusts the ads its subscribers see "based on their viewing behaviors." The company also said it plans to use AI to help refine how its vertical ads look and "pause ads."
Obviously, the addition of more ads is a rather unpopular change for customers who have already seen prices rise in recent years.
This story was originally published by Men's Journal on May 17, 2026, where it first appeared in the Entertainment section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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This story was originally published May 16, 2026 at 9:37 PM.