We know you’re still going to pay this every month, but we have a duty to report the news anyway: Netflix has raised prices of two of its plans in the United States, which are effective as of today, October 29, for new members. The streaming service’s “standard†plan increased one dollar from $12.99 to $13.99 per month, while the “premium†plan jumped from $15.99 to $17.99 per month. The “basic†plan, however, remains the same at $8.99 per month. Current members, Netflix notes, will be notified via email and within the app 30 days ahead of their price increase. “We’re updating our prices so that we can continue to offer more variety of TV shows and films, in addition to our great fall line up,†a company spokesperson said in a statement. “As always we offer a range of plans so that people can pick a price that works best for their budget.†We don’t want to seem too prophetic, but Vulture predicted a price hike just last week. As our Josef Adalian put it in his streaming newsletter:
Netflix recently increased its monthly price in Canada, leading to speculation the U.S. market is next. Greg Peters, the company’s chief operating officer and head of product, said he would not “comment or speculate on any specific changes,†but his analysis of how Netflix decides when the time is right to raise prices seemed to suggest an increase is in the offing. “Instead of an algorithm, we’re just basically assessing, ‘Okay, how many new popular titles have we delivered? What are local language originals in that particular country looking like? What’s the slate that’s coming looking like? What [do] the fundamental metrics — engagement and churn — look like?’†Peters explained. He also noted that Netflix is likely to once again make more new originals in 2021 than it did in 2020.
“If we do that, then we feel like there is that opportunity to occasionally go back and ask members where we’ve delivered that extra value in those countries to pay a little bit more,†Peters said. Don’t expect any such hike, if it comes, to be too big though. We very much want to remain an incredible value as we continue to improve the service and grow,†the exec said.
We’re still waiting on how Netflix is going to fix the GLOW situation, FYI.