Netflix officially kills its $10 Basic plan in the US and UK – here is what it means for YOUR account

Netflix has axed its $10 (£6.99) Basic tier option Tuesday in the US and UK.

Current ad-free Basic plan users can keep their membership until they cancel, but new and rejoining users will not have the option.

There is now just a $6.99 (£4.99) Standard plan with ads playing five times during each hour of viewing, a $15.49 (£10.99) Standard account without commercials and which allows two streams, or the $19.99 (£15.99) Premium option that allows four streams.

The move comes as Netflix launched ad-supported plans in 2022 that have not taken off among the public – less than one in five new customers sign up for the membership.

Netflix’s website shows at least five million customers are using the Basic plan globally – but the amount in the US and UK is unknown.

Netflix has axed its $10 (£6.99) Basic tier option Tuesday in the US and UK 

DailyMail.com has contacted Netflix for comment.

The streaming platform first pulled the Basic plan in Canada last month without an official announcement. 

But the move appears to be a way to entice users to opt for the ad-based options, a recent addition and revenue stream for Netflix. This is despite the company once vowing it would never include ads on the platform.

Data shows that only one in five new subscribers is signing up for the plan with advertisements.

The ad-supported tier rolled out in 2022 with an average of four to five minutes of adverts per hour, with each advert 15 or 30 seconds long.

The ads play before and during the content, which could infuriate viewers if they interrupt a particularly dramatic or suspenseful moment in the show.

But at the time of the rollout, Netflix assured its users that it had no plans to remove any of the three subscription plans – Basic, Standard and Premium.

Current ad-free Basic plan users can keep their membership until they cancel, but new and rejoining users will not have the option

While this is a blow to new customers, Netflix’s password ban has had a larger impact.

On May 23, the streaming giant cracked down on password sharing in the US by limiting viewership of its platform to users living in the same household.

Customers paying for standard or premium plans can share their login credentials with someone for an additional $8 (£6.21) per month, a $2 (£1.55) discount from the company’s standard stand-alone plan.

Without providing details on how it authenticates subscriber identities or accounts, Netflix assured that everyone living in the same household will still be able to stream TV series and movies ‘wherever they are – at home, on the go, on holiday.’

The long-anticipated move had been looming over the US since it was revealed by Netflix in 2021 to end lost revenues – Citi Bank estimated the company lost $6 billion (£4.5 billion) annually from password sharing.