Netflix is gearing up to raise the prices of streaming plans without advertising “a few months” after the SAG-AFTRA actors strike is resolved, according to a new report.
The streaming service is “discussing” raising prices in “several markets globally,” and likely will first increase fees in the U.S. and Canada, according to a Wall Street Journal report, citing anonymous sources. The Journal did not have info on what Netflix’s new prices will be or when they might go into effect.
Netflix declined to comment on the report.
In the U.S., Netflix’s Standard plan (two streams, no ads) is currently $15.49/month and the Premium tier (four streams) costs $19.99/month. This summer, Netflix eliminated the Basic tier without ads (which had cost $9.99/month) in the U.S. and other markets, in a bid to drive customers to the $6.99/month ad-supported plan or higher-priced tiers.
This past July, Netflix CFO Spence Neumann told investors that the streamer was “more than a year out” from any price increases in its major markets like the U.S. The company has “largely paused” price hikes after it began rolling out the paid-sharing program starting in May 2023, Netflix’s effort to monetize password-sharing users, Neumann said on the second-quarter earnings interview. “Most of our revenue growth this year is from growth in volume, through new paid memberships. And that’s largely driven by our paid-sharing rollout,” he said. “It is our primary revenue accelerator in the year.”
Netflix most recently increased prices in the U.S. and other major markets in the first half of 2022.
Multiple other streaming services have been hiking their prices in the past few months — in some cases, because they were initially underpriced to attract subscribers. As of Oct. 12, Disney is raising prices for the standalone premium tiers of Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ in the U.S.
NBCUniversal instituted its first price increase for Peacock this summer, as did Paramount Global for its newly merged Paramount+ With Showtime package. And on Tuesday, Warner Bros. Discovery announced a price increase for Discovery+ without ads of nearly 30% in the U.S. and Canada, effective immediately.
Pictured above: Netflix’s “One Piece”
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