Netflix is hiking prices in the US, raising the standard plan by a dollar to $13.99 a month, and the premium tier by two dollars to $17.99 a month.
Netflix is increasing the cost to help it fund more TV shows and movies on the streaming service as it faces increasing competition.
“We understand people have more entertainment choices than ever and we’re committed to delivering an even better experience for our members,” a company spokesperson said. “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 lineup.”
The good news is the basic plan remains the same at $8.99 a month. However, the plan only gives you access to one concurrent stream, plus all videos are streamed in standard definition at 480p. For HD, you’ll have to upgrade to the basic plan, and for 4K, you’ll need the premium tier.
“The prices take effect today for any new members signing up,” the company added. “Current members will be notified through email and will also receive a notification within the app 30 days ahead of their price increase. Timing will be based on the specific member’s billing cycle and will be rolled out over the course of the next two months.”
Netflix’s last price hike occurred in January 2019, which raised the monthly cost for all three plans. Subsequently, the company reported losing some subscribers in the US. However, since then, the company’s user growth globally has surged, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has been forcing more people to stay at home.
The company now has 73 million paid subscribers in the US and Canada, with Netflix’s total subscriber count at 195 million.
During a third quarter’s earning call, Netflix explained the company’s approach when deciding to raise the prices for a certain market.
“We do an assessment,” said Netflix Chief Product Officer Gregory Peters. “And we say do we believe that we're really delivering more value to our members and, if so, do we think it's the right time to go back and ask them to pay a bit more so we can again keep that cycle going.”