Netflix/Carrefour Collaboration Targets Cost-Conscious Consumers

Netflix is teaming with French grocery chain Carrefour to offer low-cost subscriptions.

The streaming service announced late Monday (Jan. 15) that it was offering customers in the French cities Rouen and Bordeaux no-commitment subscriptions to Netflix’s standard 5.99 euros per month subscription — with ads — as well as 10% off on Carrefour brand products.

The collaboration marks the first time Netflix has offered subscriptions through a partnership with a “major retailer,” the announcement said.

Depending on the success encountered in these two pilot cities, the Carrefour Plus program will be deployed throughout France by the end of 2024.

“Through this partnership, we hope to make our series, films and games even more accessible to new audiences,” said Laurent Uguen, sales director at Netflix.

Last week, Netflix said it had seen a surge in adoption of its ad-supported tier, with Amy Reinhard, the company’s president of ads, telling an audience at the CES show in Las Vegas that the plan’s monthly active user base has exceeded 23 million people globally.

That’s a 50% rise from the 15 million global active user count that the streaming giant reported at the beginning of November.

“We know there’s a lot of work to do on our side, but we’re all about learning and iterating and working with our advertising partners to figure out, ‘How do we grow this business in a meaningful way?’” said Reinhard, whose comments were reported by Variety.

Offering lower-cost subscription options has become more important as customers rethink their streaming choices. The PYMNTS Intelligence report “The One-Stop Bill Pay Playbook: Drivers of Consumers’ Bill Payment Priorities” found that when consumers are struggling with their bills, streaming subscriptions are the first thing they cut back on.

“Specifically, 55% said they would cancel streaming subscriptions if they needed to reduce the bills they received each month — more than said the same of any other service — while only 17% of those surveyed stated they would prioritize paying their streaming subscription bills in full over other bills,” PYMNTS wrote last week.

Meanwhile, recent reports show that around a quarter of American subscribers to major services like Netflix, Hulu and Disney have canceled at least three subscriptions in the last two years, with streaming service cancellations climbing to 6.3% in November of 2023, up from 5.1% the previous year.

Lastly, data from 2022 highlighted in PYMNTS’ Subscription Commerce Tracker® found that more than half of consumers think there are too many streaming options, and 53% think it’s too costly to pay for all the content.