When subscription services were in their infancy, one of their selling points was that you could watch whatever you wanted, without ads. Now that they dominate the TV sphere, subscriptions are free to do as they please, introducing ad-supported tiers to their userbases.
Netflix is one of the biggest names in TV today, and its introduction of an ad-supported subscription tier proved to be a controversial move to say the least. However, despite low interest and the lacking popularity, Netflix isn't going to back down anytime soon.
Netflix's President of Worldwide Advertising Jeremi Gorman has said the company is pleased with the plan's growth, even as only 9% of US subscriber sign-ups for Netflix went for the Basic with Ads tier.
Apparently, this confidence comes from Netflix wanting to put more of its content on the Basic with Ads subscription tier. Currently, there's only around 85% of total Netflix content available on the service, meaning expansion could drive more subscriptions. It seems there's little to be done about the invasion of ads in our subscription services, as other big names such as HBO Max and Discovery Plus are looking to add them in too.