Netflix is about to get pricier. The grandfather of all streaming services will see a price increase of $1-$2 a month starting in May, per a report from Variety. The Standard plan, which is the most popular, will go from $10.99 to $12.99. The Premium plan, which allows for 4K streaming, jumps from $13.99 to $15.99, and the Basic plan, which streams without HD, will go from $7.99 to $8.99 — a first-ever increase for that tier.
The price increase was first announced back in January, which will affect U.S. customers, as well as any customers using U.S. currency. At the time, the announcement pushed the value of Netflix stock up about 5%.
The company last increased prices in late 2017, but in the year-plus since then, competing platforms like Amazon Prime and Hulu have upped the ante by producing more of their own original content, as well as striking deals for exclusive rights to stream content from other networks and studios.
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There are also the wave of new streaming platforms on the horizon. This includes Disney+, which will carry Disney’s backlog along with the promise of stand-alone Star Wars and Marvel series. Then there’s Apple TV+, which took some time last week to show off all the A-list talent they recruited, but not any of the actual content they’re producing.
Add to that IMDb’s free, ad-supported service, as well as similar offerings from NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Even DC Universe stepped up its game by adding the company’s entire backlog of comic books as part of its subscription — without raising prices.
Though Netflix’s 2017 price hike didn’t significantly dent its subscriber base, they famously lost 600,000 in 2011 when it separated streaming from its now-antiquated DVD-by-mail plan, which saw a price hike of more than 60%. While these price hikes are closer to 15-20%, it’s possible subscribers may be prompted to reevaluate which streaming services they choose to pay for.
