'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean?
ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing.
When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers.
ZDNET's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form.
Netflix is phasing out its most popular plan. Here's what you need to know
If you're a Netflix customer, there's a good chance your subscription will be changing soon. The company announced yesterday in a letter to shareholders that its most popular plan-- $11.99 a month for no ads -- is going away for good.
US customers haven't been able to sign up for the plan since last summer, instead having to choose a more expensive plan if they wanted to go commercial-free. But now existing subscribers are getting cut off too.
Also: The best live TV streaming services of 2024
The changes will start, the company said, in the UK and Canada, and would happen sometime in the second quarter. Netflix didn't say what countries would be next, or when they would be cut off, only that it would be "taking it from there."
When the changes take effect, the only remaining plans are the ad-supported $7/month plan, the standard ad-free plan at $15.50/month, and premium, which adds 4K streaming, spatial audio, offline content, and two extra members outside the household, for $23 a month.
So for customers currently on the basic $11.99 a month plan, this is essentially a 30% price increase.
If you want to add an extra person outside the house to any of those plans, it's another $8.
Also: 6 ways to save money on TV streaming without losing the shows you love
The move comes as Netflix subscriptions are soaring in the wake of last year's password-sharing crackdown. While many people predicted this would be the beginning of the end for the streaming giant, new subscriptions soared.
While streaming without ads has been a staple of the service for many years, it seems people are actually becoming okay with sitting through some advertisements, as the company notes that the ad-supported plan accounts for 40% of all new Netflix signups and the number of subscribers for ad-supported tiers grew nearly 70% quarter-over-quarter.