There is just one week left for the debut, in Spain, of the long-awaited plan with Netflix advertising, which will become the cheapest option to access the contents of the platform. Well, actually a large part of the content, but not all of it, because due to rights issues, Netflix must renegotiate with the owners of some of the content in its catalog (not with its own productions, of course) to that its broadcast with advertising inserts is explicitly authorized.
Regarding the price of the plan, the truth is that there are opinions for all tastes, some people think that the fee of 5.49 euros per month justifies both advertising and its limitations. But there are also many people who think that its price should be much lower to be worth it. Thus, we will have to wait until its deployment is complete to start assessing the reception it has.
As we have been anticipating for quite some time, it was known that advertising was not going to be the only “against” of this plan, whose main pro, if not the only one, is its lower price. Thus, let us remember that its characteristics are equated to the basic plan, that is, the one of 7.99 euros per month, but with the following additional limitations:
- Some content (not Netflix’s own) will not be available due to licensing restrictions, although Netflix claims to be working on a solution.
- It will not be possible to download content for offline viewing.
- The maximum image quality will be shared between the Netflix plan with advertising and the basic plan, HD (720p).
However, with its arrival in the first regions where it is already available, users have found an unexpected, and in some cases unpleasant surprise, and that is that the ad-supported Netflix plan is not compatible with all devices. And, of course, when I say all the devices, I am referring to those in which it is possible to view their content with the rest of the platform’s plans.
In response to the uproar that has been caused by this limitation, Netflix has published a support page that, with the name «Netflix displays the message: ‘The Basic plan with ads is not supported.«, shows a list of device types, which breaks down how we should act in each of them in the face of said incident.
In most cases, recommendations are limited to restarting the device and if this doesn’t work, update your operating system. However, we are surprised when we see the limitations that affect a good part of them. They are the following:
- Android devices: The plan is only compatible with devices with Android 7 or later.
- apple devices: The plan is only compatible with iPad, iPhone and iPod touch with iOS 15 or later.
- Windows application: the plan it is not compatible.
- chrome cast: The plan is only compatible with the models of Chromecast with Google TVNot with previous models.
- AppleTV: the plan it is not compatible with AppleTV.
- PlayStation: The plan is compatible with PlayStation 4 and 5, but not with playstation 3.
I don’t know about you, I’m still finishing this assimilating. I understand that getting updated applications to old operating systems can be between very complicated and impossible, so I understand the limitations in the case of Android and PlayStation 3. The rest, however, seem to me to be much more complicated to understand and justify. Especially, although there are some quite bloody, is that They haven’t even bothered to arrive on time with their own Windows app!
It is not hard to imagine that one of the potential clients of the Netflix plan with advertising, that is, the cheapest option on the platform, are precisely the users with a more humble economic profile, that is, those for whom having to acquire a new device more complicated. Isn’t that a bit absurd? Hopefully, in the coming weeks, Netflix will be able to extend the reach of its ad-supported plan, but of course, as a debut, it has stumbled. But anyway, let’s be good, and let’s think that this is better than a much more polished debut, but sometime between the end of next year and the following year, as the company planned just a few months ago.
