Netflix subscription gets costlier with latest price hike

Netflix has increased prices of its subscription plans once again. While announcing the third quarter earning results, the streaming giant said customers in the US will have to fork up more to be able to enjoy its catalogue. Netflix users in the US will now have to pay $11.99 (roughly Rs 998) per month for its Basic plan, from the current $9.99 (roughly Rs 831). Those paying $19.99 (roughly Rs 1,665) per month for its Premium plan will now have to shell out $22.99 (roughly Rs 1,915). Netflix’s $6.99 (roughly Rs 585) ad-supported plan and $15.49 (roughly Rs 1,290) Standard tier are not changing at the moment.

“As we deliver more value to our members, we occasionally ask them to pay a bit more,” Netflix wrote in its letter to shareholders late on Wednesday as it declared its Q3 quarterly results. “Our starting price is extremely competitive with other streamers and at $6.99 per month in the US, for example, it’s much less than the average price of a single movie ticket,” said the company.

The hike in subscription prices comes expectedly after the strike by Hollywood writers ended earlier this month. A report by The Wall Street Journal previously said that the streamer was planning to hike the prices after the strike by the Writers Guild of America ended. But it said that Netflix would wait until at least the actors, too, discontinued their strike. It looks like the company is not in the mood to wait for that and is looking to shore up its earnings especially after incurring losses due to the strike.

The company was yet to reveal if the new prices will be effective in other global markets, including the price-sensitive India market. In India, Netflix’s subscriptions start at Rs 149, which allows mobile-only streaming, and goes all the way up to Rs 649 for the 4K, 4-screen tier.

The streaming giant added 8.76 million new subscribers during the quarter, bringing the global total to 247.15 million. “Our Q3 financials were in-line with to ahead of forecast with revenue of $8.5 billion, paid net adds of 9 million and operating margin of 22.4 percent,” said Netflix. In addition to its password-sharing crackdown “exceeding” expectations, Netflix also saw significant gains to its ad-supported plan, with membership increasing almost 70 percent quarter over quarter. The company forecasts that revenue will increase 11 per cent in the fourth quarter, reaching $8.69 billion.

— Written with inputs from IANS