Reed Hastings Just Dropped a Big Hint About Netflix's Ad Biz

After years of resisting the idea of advertising, Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) has done an about-face on the strategy. Its ad-based tier, priced at $6.99/month in the U.S., launched in November and is now live in 12 countries. While it's too early to get any data on the performance of the ad-based tier, and the company has said it doesn't expect that offering to be material in the fourth quarter, Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings made some comments at the New York Times DealBook conference that should stoke investor confidence in the ad business.