The word “Netflix” shines brightly at the presentation of the new season (3) of the Netflix series “Bridgerton” in the Flora.
Rolf Vennenbernd | Picture Alliance | Getty Images
Netflix is hiking the price of most of its U.S. plans.
The streaming giant announced on Tuesday that its standard plan without commercials will increase from $15.49 a month to $17.99. Its cheaper, ad-supported plan, which was more recently introduced to attract more subscribers, will increase from $6.99 per month to $7.99.
In addition, the monthly cost of Netflix’s premium plan will increase from $22.99 to $24.99.
The company, which reported fourth-quarter earnings on Tuesday, said it will also raise prices in Canada, Portugal and Argentina.
Consumers have been faced with numerous price hikes in recent years across major streaming services including Netflix and its competitors, including Disney’s apps and Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max. Streamers have increasingly turned to higher prices and ad-supported plans as they look to reach profitability.
“When you’re going to ask for a price increase, you better make sure you have the goods and engagement to back it up,” said Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos during Tuesday’s investor call, noting upcoming series and movies to be released in 2025.
During Tuesday’s call, co-CEO Greg Peters said that the recent price increases in international markets went “smoothly.”
Netflix last increased the cost of its standard plan without ads in 2022, while its premium plan last saw a hike in 2023. Meanwhile in 2023 the company discontinued its cheapest basic ad-free option. While the plan is no longer available to new customers, Netflix did increase the cost of it later that year.
Netflix had ditched the basic ad-free tier soon after it introduced its cheaper, ad-supported plan in November 2022 as a response to slowing subscriber growth at the time. In November, Netflix said it had reached 70 million global monthly active users on its ad plans. This is the first time Netflix has altered the price of the ad-supported plan.
The company has also been enforcing a crackdown on password sharing in a push to get more customers paying for its service.
As part of that change, Netflix has given subscribers the option to add “extra members” to their accounts. The streamer said Tuesday the cost of extra members on standard plans without commercials will rise from $7.99 per month to $8.99. The extra members on ad-supported plans won’t see a price change.
The crackdown appears to be paying off: Netflix reported on Tuesday that it added a record 19 million paid memberships during the fourth quarter to surpass 300 million subscribers.
