Netflix wrestling for subscribers and revenues
At the beginning of 2022, Netflix remained adamant about not using advertising. Nevertheless, the company's position changed after subsequent losses in the number of subscribers. For the first time in over a decade, Netflix saw its customer base decrease in the first two quarters of that year. In comparison, its competitor Disney+ gained millions of new customers in the same period. Despite the bumpy start into 2022, Netflix managed to reverse the downward trend in the subscriber count and ended the year by counting a net subscriber addition of more than seven million. By this time, the move toward advertising accelerated, and the company announced its new Basic With Ads plan.While the streaming icon takes its first steps in the advertising business, analysts already predict the future of Netflix ad revenues. Preliminary figures estimate the company's gain with advertising at around half a billion U.S. dollars in 2023 – a value expected to increase to nearly four billion dollars by 2027. Currently, the company's challenge lies in bringing in subscribers to the ad-supported plan. For instance, one-third of consumers in the United States preferred paid, ad-free streaming content in 2021. Among already Netflix subscribers in the country, only 14 percent were likely to switch to a less expensive, ad-supported subscription option, according to a survey conducted in 2022.