In this article, Netflix is increasing the price of most of its U.S. plans. The streaming service announced on Tuesday that the standard plan without commercials will rise from $15.49 per month to $17.99. The cheaper, ad-supported plan, introduced more recently to attract more subscribers, will increase from $6.99 per month to $7.99. Additionally, the monthly cost of Netflix’s premium plan will go up from $22.99 to $24.99.
The company, which released its fourth-quarter earnings on Tuesday, also stated that it will raise prices in Canada, Portugal, and Argentina. Consumers have experienced several price increases in recent years across major streaming services, including Netflix and its competitors like Disney’s apps and Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max. Streaming platforms have been turning to higher prices and ad-supported plans to achieve profitability.
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos mentioned during Tuesday’s investor call that when implementing a price increase, it is crucial to have the content and engagement to support it. He highlighted upcoming series and movies set to be released in 2025. Co-CEO Greg Peters stated during the call that recent price hikes in international markets went smoothly.
The last time Netflix raised the cost of its standard plan without ads was in 2022, while the premium plan saw an increase in 2023. In 2023, the company discontinued its cheapest basic ad-free option. Although this plan is no longer available to new customers, Netflix did raise its cost later that year.
Netflix removed the basic ad-free tier shortly after introducing its cheaper, ad-supported plan in November 2022 in response to a slowdown in subscriber growth at the time. In November, Netflix reported reaching 70 million global monthly active users on its ad plans. This marks the first time Netflix has adjusted the price of the ad-supported plan.
The company has also been cracking down on password sharing to encourage more customers to pay for its service. As part of this initiative, Netflix now allows subscribers to add “extra members” to their accounts. The cost of extra members on standard plans without commercials will increase from $7.99 per month to $8.99. However, there will be no price change for extra members on ad-supported plans.
The crackdown on password sharing seems to be yielding results as Netflix announced on Tuesday that it added a record 19 million paid memberships during the fourth quarter, surpassing 300 million subscribers.
