Comcast's video advertisement division,
Freewheel, can help Netflix with technology to deliver ads, while
NBCUniversal's sales team can assist the streaming service provider with
selling advertisements in the United States and Europe, the report added.
Google, which already has a relationship
with Netflix as a provider of ad-buying tools, could pursue an exclusive deal
with the company, the report said.
Netflix, Alphabet and Comcast did not
immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.
Netflix said in April that inflation, the
war in Ukraine and fierce competition had contributed to a loss of subscribers
for the first time in more than a decade.
The company could introduce its
lower-priced ad-supported subscription plan by the end of the year, earlier
than originally planned, as reported previously.
Last month, two individuals who had access
to the internal Netflix note shared it with The New York Times, which reveals
that Netflix executives are aiming to launch the ad-supported tier between
October and December 2022.
It's unclear at this point how Netflix's
foray into advertisements will work, since it's one of the only ones
internationally — between Disney+, HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+,
Hulu, Peacock, and Paramount+ — to offer multiple plans that differentiate
across video quality and number of simultaneous screens, and not content.
Will there be an ad-supported version of
Netflix's Mobile, Basic, Standard, and Premium plans? That seems likely, as
it'd allow Netflix to target customers widely. © Reuters