Another Netflix Price Hike Could Be Coming in 2024
In a letter to shareholders, the streamer said it will 'occasionally ask our members to pay a little extra.'
Netflix subscribers may soon be shelling out even more dollars to binge their favorite shows. Just months after raising subscription costs, the streamer teased in its earnings report for the fourth quarter of 2023 that another Netflix price hike could be coming in 2024.
"Over the last few years we've increased sophistication on our pricing and plans strategy so that we can more effectively capture the value created by our service," the company shared in a letter to shareholders ahead of its Q4 2023 earnings call, according to ComicBook.com. "First, pricing. We seek to provide a range of prices and plans to meet a wide range of needs, including highly competitive starting prices. As we invest in and improve Netflix, we'll occasionally ask our members to pay a little extra to reflect those improvements, which in turn helps drive the positive flywheel of additional investment to further improve and grow our service."
The streamer did not reveal when any future price hikes could take effect. The most recent subscription increases for U.S. subscribers came in November when the company increased the cost of its Basic plan, which new subscribers are no longer eligible for, from $9.99 per month to $11.99 per month. The cost of Premium plan rose $3 to $22.99 per month. The price hike did not impact the Standard plan, which costs $15.49 per month, or the entry-level, ad-supported plan, the price tag of which has remained at $6.99 since its 2022 launch.
The teased price hike will come amid another major shift to the streamer's subscriptions. The company also announced plans to "retire" the Basic plan in 2024. Netflix originally got rid of the Basic plan, formerly its cheapest ad-free tier, for new and returning subscribers last year. Currently, only those who were already subscribed to the plan prior to the axing remain Basic subscribers. However, they will soon either have to opt for a new subscription tier or abandon Netflix altogether, as the company will begin phasic out the plan in the UK and Canada in the spring "and tak[e] it from there."
The changes come as Netflix reached more than 260 million global subscribers after adding 13.1 million in the fourth quarter, marking the company's largest fourth quarter subscriber growth ever, per Retuers. The streamer also revealed earlier this month that it has 23 million monthly active users on its ad-supported tier.