A Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) executive refused to rule out introducing advertising for the streaming service, though said it was not currently in the company’s plans.
Chief financial officer Spencer Neumann told a conference “never say never” in response to being quizzed about whether Netflix would remain ad-free.
“It’s not something in our plan right now,” Neumann said.
Some analysts have been urging Netflix to introduce a lower-tier service with advertisements to arrest declining subscriber growth, which reached a peak during the Covid pandemic.
A hypothetical introduction of ads would follow The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS)'s Disney+, AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)'s WarnerMedia and Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Corp in tying to attract a new group of subscribers will to sacrifice time in place of cash with an ad-based service.
“It's not like we have religion against advertising,” Neumann said of Netflix at the Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Technology, Media & Telecom Conference.
"We think we have a great model, a subscription business that scales globally really well.
"It's hard for us to ignore that others are doing it, but for now it doesn't make sense for us."
Shares in Netflix fell 2.43% yesterday to US$341.76, having contracted more than 40% year-to-date in a wider crunch of tech stocks.