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Netflix increases the price of a number of its plans including one of its most popular payment options. As reported by The Verge, the standard plan has increased by a dollar.
Netflix has gone from strength to strength in North America over the past few years. The company has grand ambitions for the platform which including hitting 200 million subscribers by the end of the year.
However, the company has changed its trial policy which is often a route for users to sign up. The company no longer offers free trials in the US. The company says it has plans for different promotion options in the territory.
Netflix has also increased the price of its premium plan as part of this pricing restructure. This comes as Netflix also increased plans in Canada earlier this year.
Netflix announces price hikes for US users
Pretty much all pricing plans have received an increase as part of this announcement. The only plan exempt from this is the basic plan. This is likely to continue to try and attract users with a simple entry-level plan.
However, all other plans have seen a price hike. The standard plan, which is the most popular one, has increased from $13 to $14 as part of this restructure.
The premium plan has gone up by $2 from $16 to $18. Any new subscribers will have to pay the new plans straight away. However, any existing users will see the new prices roll out over the next few weeks as the billing cycles catch up.
Industry insiders predicted another round of price hikes at Netflix. The last time the fees increased was back in January 2019 so in all honesty, this has probably been coming for some time. However, as mentioned these price increases although significant have not blown things out of the water for Netflix plans.
As mentioned, Netflix did announce a round of price increases in Canada. The likelihood is that these price increase may continue to roll out globally. However, Netflix said that this increase “in the US does not influence or indicate a global price change”.
Price hikes arrive as users have more options
Increasing the price of Netflix plans is a risky strategy given all the options customers now have for entertainment platforms.
Some of these competitors include the likes of HBO Max, Disney Plus, Peacock, TikTok, YouTube and Twitch. However, Netflix has pointed out that they have updated the prices “so that we can continue to offer more variety of TV shows and films”.
These increases will likely pay for Netflix’s investment in its content slate and product features. Every year since 2013 Netflix has increased its content budget. This year alone it spent $18.5 billion.
Compared to other platforms, Netflix’s standard plans still comes in at $1 cheaper than HBO Max’s charge. However, the company says it is not influenced by industry prices.
Industry experts still believe that the company still offers a very competitive price some even arguing it is underpriced.