Netflix announces price hikes for all US streaming plans
Netflix announces price hikes for all US streaming plans
Netflix executives warned several times that a price increase could be on the way soon over the course of 2024.
Throughout 2024, streaming customers watched with horror as service after service announced new price increases. All kept one eye fixed on Netflix, which held off on price hikes throughout 2024. That reprieve has ended, however; when Netflix announced its fourth quarter 2024 earnings on Tuesday, it also dropped the news that it was raising subscription prices on all three of its available plans in the United States. As The Streamable predicted a few weeks ago, Netflix is now the first streamer in 2025 to announce its rates are going up.
Key Details:
- Each Netflix plan is rising in price between $1 to $2.50 per month.
- Company executives say the streamer’s 2025 content slate is more than ample justification for the increase.
- Netflix has added live NFL games and weekly WWE wrestling, and more recently,
The price increases at Netflix are more or less in line with what other streamers have adjusted to in recent months. The platform’s Standard with Ads plan increases by $1 per month to $8, the same price as Paramount+ and Peacock’s equivalent tier. This is the first time that Netflix has increased the price of its ad-supported plan since launching it in late 2022.
The ad-free plans are rising in price as well. Netflix’s Standard with Ads offering is jumping from $15.49 per month to $18, while the Premium plan is ticking up to $25 per month. As a result of the increases, Netflix adjusted its 2025 revenue forecast upward by $500 million.
“Our pricing philosophy hasn’t changed,” Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters said when discussing its quarterly earnings. “Of course, we look to continue to provide more value to our members, seeking to wisely invest to increase the variety and quality of our entertainment offering. And then we listen to those members. We listen for signals like engagement, retention, acquisition. There’s more secondary signals as well, all to tell us when we’ve achieved that increase in value. And when we’ve done that, then we ask them to pay a bit more to keep that virtuous cycle going.”
Netflix officials used the phrase “pay a little more” more than once over the course of 2024, suggesting a price increase was coming sooner or later. Company co-CEO Ted Sarandos pointed to a slate of top content coming to the streamer this year as ample justification for the rate hikes.
“When you’re going to ask for a price increase, you better make sure you have the goods and the engagement to back it up,” he said Tuesday. “And I feel like what we have going into 2025 is just that. We have the returning seasons of our biggest shows ever, ‘Wednesday,’ ‘Stranger Things,’ and ‘Squid Game,’ ‘Night Agent,’ Ryan Murphy’s ‘Monster,’ ‘You,’ ‘Alice in Borderland’ from Japan, ‘Delhi Crime’ from India, new seasons of ‘Drive to Survive.’”
Netflix has added an impressive slate of live events on top of the on-demand titles listed above by Sarandos, including weekly streams of “WWE Raw,” live NFL games on Christmas Day, and more. Netflix now has more than 300 million global subscribers, and even the latest round of price increases isn’t likely to drive many away from the service.
Netflix
Netflix is a leading subscription-based video streaming service that offers on-demand access to an extensive library of over 3,000 movies, 2,000+ TV shows, and a growing collection of acclaimed Netflix Originals. Renowned for its ability to produce groundbreaking content, Netflix has become a cultural powerhouse with hit originals like “Stranger Things,” “Wednesday,” “Squid Game,” “The Crown,” “Tiger King,” “Bridgerton,” “The Witcher,” and “Black Mirror.”