Netflix subscribers may be shelling out a little more money to tune into their favorite series. According to recent reports, the streaming giant is planning yet another price hike that could potentially be coming sooner rather than later, much to the disdain of viewers.
Yahoo Finance reports that the streaming service is planning to raise its subscription prices to boost revenue. Citing a new note to clients from Jefferies analyst Brent Thill, the streamer could be raising prices by $1 to $2 “in all four of its geographies,” which could bring in an additional $500 million to $1 billion in extra sales in 2021. The price hike is expected to bring only a minimal loss in subscribers, as Netflix has an expansive content catalog and has put increased focus on its original content, meaning to view those original titles, people must have a Netflix subscription.
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While Netflix has not yet confirmed such a price hike, Netflix COO Greg Peters, during its earnings report in August, implied that a subscription plan price increase could be coming. He cited the streamer’s growing original titles library as the reason for a potential increase.
“We’ll also look very closely at — on our specific metrics, and it’s metrics like engagement, like churn,” he said. “And those are the signals that we have for indicating when we have created more value for our members, so back to your plan. And it’s not so much sort of an all priority plan that we have, but really more using those signs that we’ve done a good job of building more value for our members, which indicate to us, hey, it might be time to go back to them and ask them for a little bit more so that we can then invest that further into amazing stories, great content, better product experiences and create even more value for them.”
Netflix last hiked prices in January of 2019, garnering plenty of criticism from subscribers when plans jumped by $1 or $2. Currently, Netflix offers three subscription plans. The basic plan costs $8.99 per month and allows subscribers to watch on one screen at a time. HD and Ultra HD are not available under this plan. The middle-tier plan, the standard plan, currently costs $12.99 per month and allows subscribers to stream in HD on two screens at once. The priciest plan comes in at $16.99 per month and allows subscribers to watch on four screens at once. Ultra HD is available under the premium plan.
