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After years of insisting that they’d remain ad-free for years, Netflix is now planning on potentially introducing a cheaper, ad-supported tier of their service in the next year or two. The news comes after Netflix reported a loss of 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter, and a projected loss of two million subscribers next quarter. This also comes hot on the heels of Netflix stock plunging last night (April 19), as well as news that the streamer plans on expanding their password sharing crackdown.

“Those who have followed Netflix know that I have been against the complexity of advertising and a big fan of the simplicity of subscription,” Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said during a call with investors. “But as much as I am a fan of that, I am a bigger fan of consumer choice, and allowing consumers who would like to have a lower price and are advertising-tolerant to get what they want makes a lot of sense.”

As Hastings mentions, Netflix has been traditionally hesitant, to downright negative, on the idea of running ads on their service. The streaming giant always looked at themselves as more of an HBO, catering to an elite tier of consumer who would look down on ads as sullying the product. But now, even HBO has started running advertisements via a cheaper, ad-supported tier of the HBO Max streaming service. And Disney+, which is comparatively nipping at Netflix’s heels (though still with about half the subscribers), is also introducing an ad-supported tier in the Fall, timed out around the Disney streamer’s third anniversary.

Given the industry has become massively more competitive since Netflix was the only game in town, and looking forward two years it seems like they might otherwise be the lone hold-out when it comes to advertising, the move doesn’t just make sense, it feels inevitable. And Hastings agreed, noting that, “It’s pretty clear that it’s working for Hulu. Disney is doing it. HBO did it. I don’t think we have a lot of doubt that it works.”

That said, the big question is whether Netflix can staunch the bleeding with a cheaper tier and forcing multiple subscriptions instead of password sharing? Or is the streaming landscape so bifurcated now that it’s too late? Is this it for Netflix???

Probably not. Despite the dire news of the past 24 hours, Netflix is still a streaming giant, and should be just fine for the foreseeable future. That said, expect the streaming landscape to change dramatically over the next two years, yet again, with Netflix front and center. There’s no word yet on pricing or timing for Netflix’s ad-supported tier.