Netflix increases prices by $ 1- $ 2 a month
Netflix announced tonight that it increases the prices for all subscription levels by $ 1 to $ 2 one month. It has been about a year and a half since the streamer’s last price increase, which came in October 2020.
The increases – which will “roll out” to existing subscribers in the coming months, as part of the company’s ongoing efforts not to be fooled every time they do so – are broken down as follows: Premium subscribers, who currently pay $ 18 per month for 4K content and 4 monitors simultaneously, will be knocked up to $ 20 a month. Standard plan members (HD content, 2 screens) will be jumped up a fifty dollars, from $ 14 to $ 15.50. And Basic members, who do not receive HD content, will now pay $ 10 a month for the privilege.
The price increases come at an undeniably strange time for the service, which at the same time runs about as high as it has ever been, at the same time as they face tougher competition than it has ever seen. On the one hand, Netflix’s subscriber base is about as good as it could be at the moment, with the service currently supporting around 200+ million subscribers worldwide, and 74 million in the US and Canada—where these recent price increases are directed.
The problem is that Netflix’s subscriber base is also we will, as high as it may be at the moment; when you are already installed in the homes of pretty much every internet enabled home in a decent portion of the planet, it is difficult to single out the annoying “growth” that shareholders want. Therefore, in part, the price increases, which put Netflix on par (or a little over, for Premium) HBO Max, which has generally been the most expensive plan in the game at $ 15 a month. (In comparison, Disney + remains at $ 8 a month, Paramount + at $ 10 a month, Apple TV + at $ 5, and Hulu just set its own prices up to $ 13 a month last year.) (It’s for non-ad versions of the services , to be clear.)
And just the length of the parentheses above demonstrates the second problem Netflix is currently facing: There is one a lot of other companies out here right now trying to accommodate their lunch. ONEwhile its perennial lead in the power wars is obviously a blessing, the company must still spend as much money as possible on original content to keep subscribers happy. (Especially since studios that were once eager to license their shows to the streamer for a quick post-Life profits are now far more reluctant to give a rival the content it needs.)
The result of all this being: Expect the small monthly bill to be a little smaller in the coming months.
[via The Verge]
