Netflix ad-supported streaming plan has arrived

The new "Basic With Ads" plan will include most of the company's entire catalog of TV shows and movies, although some won't be available at first due to licensing restrictions. Viewers will see four to five minutes of ads per hour, with each ad running from 15 to 30 seconds in length. Ads will play before and during shows and movies.

The Basic With Ads plan will sit alongside the Basic, Standard, and Premium plans and will be limited to 720p content.

Basic with Ads launches November 3 at 9 AM Pacific Time, 12 PM Eastern Time for people in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Spain, the UK, and the US. People can sign up via Netflix.com and register with their email, date of birth, and gender.

For advertisers, Netflix will have broad targeting capabilities by country and genre. Advertisers can prevent their ads from appearing on content that contains sex, nudity, or graphic violence.

Apple is reportedly considering an ad-supported plan for Apple TV+ as well. On October 12, media agency reports claimed Apple is exploring the idea as part of its push to increase ad revenues.

Sources said that Todd Teresi, Apple's vice president of ad platforms, had been meeting with ad network executives. One unnamed media agency source said they were meeting with Teresi in November, believing it would be about TV ads.

"[Teresi] did express interest in expanding their [ad] business," said the source, "but he also made it very clear that Apple will do nothing unless one, there's a significant opportunity, and two, they would never do anything to jeopardize the relationship they have with their consumers."