More Than a Year After Launch, Netflix’s Ad Plan Still Missing Several Popular Movies and Shows
variety.comTodd Spangler NY Digital Editor Netflix says its ad-supported plan includes “the vast majority” of TV shows and movies available on the standard no-ads tiers — but more than a year after the streamer introduced the cheaper option, several popular titles remain unavailable to customers with the ad plan.
Most recently, Netflix customers noticed that Eli Roth’s horror film “Thanksgiving” (pictured above), added Feb. 17 for subscribers on ad-free tiers, is unavailable on the ad plan.
The service notes that the slasher pic — currently at the No. 3 spot on Netflix’s top 10 movies in the U.S. — is not available to members on the ad plan because of licensing restrictions. “While the vast majority of TV shows and movies are available on an ad-supported plan, a small number are not due to licensing restrictions,” the streamer says in an article on its help site. “These titles will appear with a lock icon when you search or browse Netflix.” “Thanksgiving” is distributed by Sony Pictures Entertainment’s TriStar Pictures — and it appears that the studio’s movie output deal with Netflix excludes titles from ad-based viewing.
Other Sony movies unavailable on Netflix’s U.S. ad plan include animated hit “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” “No Hard Feelings,” the R-rated comedy starring Jennifer Lawrence, Tom Hanks-starrer “A Man Called Otto,” John Singleton’s “Boyz N the Hood,” “Gran Turismo,” “Dumb Money,” “Morbius” starring Jared Leto, thriller-comedy “Bullet Train” starring Brad Pitt, “13 Going on 30” starring Jennifer Garner, biopic “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” “Whiplash” starring Miles Teller and J.K.
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