Netflix ups US subscription price
January 16, 2019
By Colin Mann
Netflix is raising the price for its US subscription plans, its first increase since 2017.
The streaming service’s basic $7.99 (€7) single-viewer, non-HD plan is increasing to $8.99 monthly, while the standard $10.99 two HD streams plan rises to $12.99. The premium four-stream HD plan increases to $15.99 from $13.99.
“We change pricing from time to time as we continue investing in great entertainment and improving the overall Netflix experience,” said Netflix.
Chief product officer Greg Peters, speaking during the company’s Q3 2018 Earnings Conference Call in October, suggested Netflix’s job was to focus on, invest and provide its members “incredible experiences, more great content, great product experiences. And when we do that and we do it well, we earn the right to increase price a bit and then we take that new revenue, invested back into the model and that sort of continuous positive cycle we get to keep going, and we foresee that that will keep going for many years in the future.”
According to independent TMT analyst Paolo Pescatore, for many users, Netflix is an indispensable video services, and he suggests that there will not be much backlash – for now.
“This is certainly one way to increase revenue significantly. It needs to focus on financials as well as subscriber growth,” he advises, noting that Netflix is following the traditional pay-TV model of increasing prices annually. “Expect other countries to increase prices over coming months,” he concludes.