Netflix ends free trials in the US – CNET [CNET]

Netflix has ended free trials for new customers in the US, after years of giving away the first month of its service free. The streaming service’s US sign-up page said trials are no longer available, with Netflix instead touting how it lets you cancel anytime at not cost.

“We’re looking at different marketing promotions in the United States to attract new members and give them a great Netflix experience,” a Netflix spokeswoman said Tuesday. The end of free trials in the US was reported earlier Tuesday by TV Answer Man. 

Netflix, the world’s biggest subscription video service with more than 192 million paying members, was increasingly an outlier among its rivals by offering a month-long free trial. As a raft of new rival services have launched in the last year, many set their free trial periods at a single week, including HBO Max and NBCUniversal’s Peacock. And Disney Plus, as strong growth lifted its number of subscribers above its initial projections way earlier than expected, stopped offering free trials altogether in June. 

Other established apps like CBS All Access and Starzlimit their free trials to seven days too. Hulu and Showtime, however, still offer a month free to new subscribers. (Note: CBS All Access and Showtime are owned by ViacomCBS, the parent company of CNET.)

Even Netflix itself had already begun phasing out free trials elsewhere in the world, starting in Mexico two years ago. Netflix free trials are still available in some select markets. 

Read more: Every streaming service ranked: Disney Plus vs. Netflix, Amazon Prime, Peacock, HBO Max and Hulu