It’s been reported that Netflix is readying itself to raise the prices of its streaming plans without adverts. This will materialise “a few months” after the SAG-AFTRA actors strike is resolved.
It has been claimed that the American streaming giant is “discussing” raising prices in “several markets globally”, with the rise of fees first coming in the US and Canada.
The news comes via a new Wall Street Journal report, which cites anonymous sources when substantiating its claims. Furthermore, the publication did not provide exact information on what the new prices may look like or when they will be enacted. As of the time of writing, Netflix has declined to comment on the piece.
In July, Netflix CFO Spencer Neumann, told investors that the streamer was “more than a year out” from any price increases in major markets such as the US. In the second-quarter earnings interview, Neumann also said that the company has “largely paused” its price increases after enacting its paid-sharing programme in May 2023 – their effort to monetise password-sharing.
“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 US and its other major markets in early 2022.
A slew of other prominent streaming services are raising their prices, as they claim they were initially underpriced to attract subscribers. These include Disney, which is hiking subscription costs for the standalone premium tiers of Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ in the US.
Elsewhere, NBCUniversal raised its prices for Peacock in the summer, with Paramount Global doing the same for its merged Paramount+ and Showtime bundle. On Tuesday, Warner Bros. Discovery announced an increase for Discovery+ without ads of nearly 30% in North America, with immediate effect.
