Netflix’s cheaper plan that will be supported by ads has been a topic of discussion for the better part of 2022, but it is now a reality. Available at only a few markets at the beginning, the plan costs $6.99 monthly and has a 720p cap on video quality as well as a few other drawbacks, such as being unable to download content for offline viewing.
However, it is still a deal worth looking at if you are able to deal with 720p content as well as tolerate the ads. Away from what the tier offers, AndroidPolice has noticed that the new tier is currently not available for Chromecasts that were released prior to the Chromecast with Google TV, as well as the PlayStation 3 and Apple TV models.
They are all listed as incompatible on Netflix’s support page, however, the company has confirmed that the Apple TV models will get support later down the line. Interestingly, Roku is not mentioned at all on the support page, but AndroidPolice is of the opinion that this is just an unintended oversight rather than the platform lacking support.
It is not yet clear why the ad-supported tier does not work with older Chromecast devices, but chances are that Netflix is not too keen on improving the support for legacy devices. “To cast Netflix to a Chromecast or Chromecast Ultra, you’ll need to upgrade your Netflix plan to Basic, Standard, or Premium,” reads an excerpt from Netflix’s support page.
Furthermore, Netflix adds that you need to be rocking Android 7.0 or later in order to use the ad-supported tier on phones and tablets.
Those on the higher tiers and not looking to downgrade to the ad-supported tier should not be affected, and their Chromecast devices will continue to function as intended when watching Netflix.
For Kenyan users, this should not be a big issue for us for the time being, since the new tier is not yet available in our region. When that time comes, hopefully, Netflix would have already fixed this compatibility issue. At the time of writing the “Basic with ads” plan as it is called is available in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Korea.
