Netflix dropped huge bombs yesterday. The whole world was shook when they announced a substantial reduction in their subscribers for the first time in a decade and that they would be taking up measures like never before. One of the newest additions to content streaming will be the inclusion of Netflix commercials.

But one of the reasons we all love Netflix is because of its uninterrupted streaming. So let us see what we can do to save ourselves from the annoying pop-ups ruining our binge-watching.

Netflix to bring in ads to the platform

The streaming platform said it is looking into options that contain commercials for a cheaper price during its quarterly results announcement, which reported its first loss in worldwide customers in a decade.

Netflix co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings stated in a meeting with investors that he has been against “the complexity of advertising.”

“Allowing consumers who would like to have a lower price and are advertising-tolerant (to) get what they want makes a lot of sense,” he says. However, Hastings stated that an ad-supported plan is still a year or two away. It is a time that Netflix users may not be looking forward to.

More customers, on the other hand, appear to be okay with mixing advertisements with their streaming, as long as it’s inexpensive. According to a December Forrester poll, 44 percent of internet users in the United States who use a streaming service are willing to put up with commercials if it meant paying less.

How to avoid Netflix commercials

Now onto the bigger and more important question: avoid the commercials. Well, the answer is simple you’ll have to pay more. As Netflix is planning to include advertisements only for low-paying subscriptions such as the basic plan – $9.99. So it makes sense that the standard plan – $15.49 and the premium plan – $19.99 remain unaffected.

Other OTT platforms are following a similar pattern. Hulu offers a $6.99-per-month ad-supported subscription and a $12.99-per-month ad-free plan.

HBO Max has comparable pricing, with a $9.99 per month ad-supported membership and a $14.99 ad-free subscription. The add-free account also includes services like offline downloading. Peacock, another streaming service, offers both ad-free and ad-supported memberships.

Disney revealed last month that an ad-supported version of Disney+ will be available later this year, but it didn’t say how much it would cost.

So it is evident that ads and ad-free accounts aren’t something new to the world of streaming. However, will it result in adding more subscribers to Netflix or cause further reduction? Only time will tell

Meanwhile, let us know if you’ll be okay with paying less and having ads pop up between your binging session.