from the check-your-credit-card-statement dept.
Netflix raises monthly prices on all of its US plans; here's how much you'll pay
Your Netflix subscription is about to get pricier.
The popular streaming service announced that it will raise prices across its U.S. plans for new subscribers on Tuesday, and for existing users over the next three months.
Netflix's most popular plan, previously $10.99 a month for two HD streams, will rise to $12.99. The cheapest $7.99 non-HD plan will now be $8.99, while the premium option that allowed four simultaneous streams in 4K will rise to $15.99 per month from $13.99.
Netflix is raising the rates to fund its push into original programming. It was reported by The Economist last year that the company was spending between $12 billion and $13 billion on original programming in 2018, releasing popular films such as "Bird Box" and "Roma" as well as new seasons of TV shows like "13 Reasons Why," "Orange is the New Black" and "Marvel's Daredevil."
Related: Netflix Adds 5 Million Subscribers, Doubles Profit
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Video Streaming Services set for Cambrian Explosion
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Netflix said Monday it added some five million new subscribers over the past three months as profits doubled, in a quarterly update that sent shares of the streaming video giant higher.
California-based Netflix ended the third quarter with more than 104 million paid subscribers, with international memberships hitting 52.7 million and overtaking the number of US subscribers.
Net profits meanwhile jumped to $129 million, more than double the figure from the same period a year ago for the video giant known for "House of Cards," "The Crown" and other original shows that are part of its library.
Revenues in the quarter rose 30 percent from a year ago to $2.98 billion, Netflix said.
"We are growing nicely across the world and are on track to exceed $11 billion in revenue in 2017," a letter to shareholders said.
Streaming has entered its profit-maximization period. For audiences, has the bliss point already been passed?
Netflix has continued to add millions of new subscribers, even after it raised prices:
Netflix Inc snagged 2 million more subscribers than Wall Street expected in the final three months of 2017, tripling profits at the online video service that is burning money on new programming to dominate internet television around the world.
The results drove Netflix to a market capitalization of more than $100 billion for the first time. Shares jumped 9 percent to over $248 in after-hours trading on Monday after rallying throughout the month and rising 53 percent last year.
The company has signed up more than half of all U.S. broadband households and is building its customer base in 190 countries by spending billions on programming.
Netflix picked up 6.36 million subscribers in international markets from October through December, when it released new seasons of critically acclaimed shows "Stranger Things" and "The Crown" as well as Will Smith action movie "Bright." That topped Wall Street expectations of 5.1 million, according to FactSet.
Along with 1.98 million customer additions in the United States, the company ended the year with 117.58 million streaming subscribers around the globe, despite a price hike in October.
From a Bloomberg op-ed: "The rapid pace of subscriber additions is impressive, but so is the amount of cash going up in flames."
Also at USA Today and The Street.
Previously: Netflix Has More Subscribers Than Major Cable Providers in the U.S.
Disney to Break Away From Netflix With its Own Streaming Service
Netflix Adds 5 Million Subscribers, Doubles Profit
If you watch streaming aggregators such as Netflix and Hulu you've likely noticed a decrease in the scope of their catalogs, with items of interest being added less frequently over time, and entire catalogs of content disappearing. New shows come out and don't ever make it to the service, or perhaps are only available through some add on service.
My favorite of all time was the "You need a cable subscription to watch this content, please log in with your cable provider", why even show us those?
This trend has been ramping up as providers try to build and market their own streaming services and restrict competition via content (or via adjustments to bandwidth for their streams)
And it is getting worse - "Netflix and chill no more—streaming is getting complicated" explores the trend.
Disney Plus is set to launch late next year with new Marvel and Star Wars programming, along with its library of animated and live-action movies and shows. It hasn't announced pricing yet, but Disney CEO Bob Iger said in an August call with analysts that it will likely be less than Netflix, which runs $8 to $14 a month, since its library will be smaller.
AT&T plans a three-tier offering from WarnerMedia, with a slate of new and library content centered around the existing HBO streaming app. No word on pricing yet.
Individual channels, such as Fox, ESPN, CBS and Showtime, are also getting into the act. Research group TDG predicts that every major TV network will launch a direct-to-consumer streaming service in the next five years.
Subscribing to service after service will quickly cost more than a cable bill, choice will be limited, finding shows more difficult, and multiple terrible interfaces (instead of one well known crummy interface). Much of the point of cord cutting will be dismantled.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 16 2019, @09:14PM (4 children)
They try to make you think it costs $12 by charging $12.99, but it is actually closer to $13. I dont appreciate being treated like a fool.
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Wednesday January 16 2019, @09:20PM (2 children)
That's almost every product or service ever though. How about a $129 battery case [theverge.com]?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by julian on Thursday January 17 2019, @01:41AM
I can't do anything to fix this behavior by myself, but I do have control over how I use language. So I always round prices up when speaking or writing. Above $100 I start rounding prices to the nearest 5 or 10 dollars.
(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Thursday January 17 2019, @08:17PM
No, 9 pricing is only used for products that need to feel cheap ("low quality"). For example the iPhone is $799 because they want to be perceived as cheap but not that cheap; if it were $799.99 it would be perceived as "Walmart" cheap junk (even though it would actually cost almost a dollar more), and Apple is a "classy" brand. Premium products have nice round prices, like a Tesla at $135,000. Imagine if Teslas cost $134,999.99. Doesn't it feel like you're in a Walmart aisle just looking at that price? Human psychology is fascinating.
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 17 2019, @12:05AM
Gosh that's awful tricky. You should alert the Attorney General or something.
(Score: 2, Offtopic) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday January 16 2019, @09:17PM (11 children)
Seriously, folks, when I browse Netflix, the "Netflix Original" logo on a show is a turn-off, I'll only go back and look at those when none of the non "Netflix" labeled options are appealing.
Bird Box and friends certainly wasn't worth my share of $12B to me.
I'd be much happier with a 2 HD stream service with the current selection minus Netflix original content for $8.99 per month, and pay-per-view $1 per additional title, particularly if the $1 pay-per-view included things that are currently disc only.
I feel like the current "content explosion" is diluting the quality of all the shows that get produced. It is amusing to see the same actors/actresses over and over again, but the lack of originality in writing and production is boring enough that I'd frequently rather watch a good WebCam street scene.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 16 2019, @09:27PM (1 child)
Yea last I saw they had like 4 "sun is about to blow up" miniseries and also some others about asteroids and giant waves that were essentially the same plot.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday January 16 2019, @10:03PM
Their script writing bot is still in alpha testing.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by takyon on Wednesday January 16 2019, @09:28PM (1 child)
As other companies try to chip at Netflix's dominance with their own services, you are going to see Netflix double down on original content out of necessity (self-preservation). And I don't think this original content is necessarily bad. One thing you might be missing is the blockbusters; they spent $90 million on the cheesy Bright... yay.
If you are willing to watch street webcams, maybe you should give no-fee fully-loaded Kodi [soylentnews.org] a shot instead. If you see bad Netflix 'riginals on there, at least you didn't pay for them.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday January 16 2019, @09:32PM
In addition to Kodi, and RedBox, there's also your local library which loans DVDs for free. Ours allows 10 at a time for up to a week between renewals.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by fakefuck39 on Wednesday January 16 2019, @09:53PM
As I'm laying in bed, I just type the name of the movie, the year, and "free hd streaming" into the search box on my phone. Then I click the chromecast icon. Super fast and Easy. Every time I see someone using Netflix it takes them like 5 minutes to start a video. As a bonus, I'll usually watch my stuff in French - much easier through a random website.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Apparition on Wednesday January 16 2019, @11:11PM (4 children)
Pretty soon, the original programming is all Netflix will have left. Disney has been pulling their content from Netflix in favor of Hulu and the upcoming Disney+. AT&T/WarnerMedia announced that their own video streaming service will launch at the end of the year and almost all of their content on other video streaming services will disappear in favor of their own. Comcast/NBC announced their own video streaming service a couple of days ago which will launch next year, and they too plan to pull almost all of their content from other video streaming services.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday January 17 2019, @03:16AM (1 child)
It does appear that you are correct. We have been Netflix subscribers since we got the flyer with our first DVD player back in the '90s, and have never left because there has never been a more compelling service out there. However, they may mistake this continuous subscriber base like us as complacent... if (when?) there is no more outside programming on Netflix, I suspect I'll be leaving for something better, if there is anything better by then, still haven't seen a viable replacement.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 17 2019, @06:16AM
They do make it easy to stop and restart your account when there is something you want to watch.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 17 2019, @06:10AM (1 child)
One of the main issues I have is that they keep raising their rates and they keep losing content. What content they have is hard to find and as a result, I'm not paying for a subscription. I've got one, but only because T-Mobile is picking up the tab.
The service is just too expensive for what they're offering. There was a time when it was a good deal, but I'm not going to subscribe to it and then have to subscribe to several other services to get the content that I want. They've all decided to be greedy and as a result, none of them are going to be getting my money. I'll either do without completely or resort to piracy.
This is one of the reasons why copyright needs to be revised, they all think that we all have huge amounts of money to give them and the reality is that we don't. Few people are going to sign up for all these services that have their exclusive content. We might sign up for a couple, but not all of them. The magic of Netflix is that it was a more or less one stop shop for most of the content we wanted and it was at a reasonable price. I'd have no issues paying $13 a month or even $20 a month for a shop that had all or most of the stuff I want, but at this point, that's not likely to be a possibility until most of these streaming services go belly up from lack of subscribers.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday January 17 2019, @11:05AM
Yeah, is sooo much better when you'll have to subscribe to N-1 other services.
Because you can safely bet your ass they aren't gonna cross-license the movies in their catalogue one to the other for some time. Inevitable and reluctantly, they'll do it, but not immediately.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 17 2019, @12:06AM
Stormy Daniels, is that you?
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Wednesday January 16 2019, @09:20PM
How much are the DVD plans' princing being raised?
This sig for rent.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 16 2019, @09:25PM (2 children)
I'd rather have my tonsils extracted through my ears.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 17 2019, @11:07AM (1 child)
That can be arranged for the correct price.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 17 2019, @01:07PM
It's only kinky the first time
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 16 2019, @09:33PM
Fuck Netflix and its continual jerking around of its customers, who ( oh by the way ) are the ONLY reason it exists.
I can get virtually anything worth watching without using Netflix, and I can get it for free.
Netflix will never get so much as one dollar from me.
(Score: 2) by AssCork on Wednesday January 16 2019, @09:38PM (8 children)
Seriously, if they want to keep squeezing cash outta my wallet, I better see less "Y7" and more "NC-17" content. If the sequel to BirdBox doesn't have full-on B-List celebrities portraying a zombie-orgy falling into meat-grinders, I'm headed right back to the 'Bay.
Just popped-out of a tight spot. Came out mostly clean, too.
(Score: 2) by Apparition on Wednesday January 16 2019, @11:09PM (4 children)
Funny, I'm the opposite. I don't watch any television rated TV-MA, and I watch very few "R" rated films. Even then, I read up on interesting-looking "R" rated films on a couple of different websites such as imdb.com and commonsensemedia.org before I watch them. I dropped my Netflix subscription a couple of years ago because I saw the writing on the wall in regards to Netflix losing their non-original content, and their live action original content is almost entirely rated TV-MA or "R."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 17 2019, @02:29AM (1 child)
Fucking prudes.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 17 2019, @11:12AM
At least they do have a piece of the fuck.
Now, about those incels
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday January 17 2019, @03:18AM (1 child)
One of the things I dislike the most about the Netflix default browse is the inability to control the filtering. I don't mind R movies, but there are times when I'd like to exclude them from the selections presented (without having to go full on animated crap kids movies...)
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 17 2019, @06:42AM
That's one of the problems with Netflix's dominant position: they don't seem to feel the need to improve basic search, instead relying on ineffective "big data" algorithms. In this respect, I hope Disney's streaming offering will finally push Netflix to better themselves.
As for the price increase, I may just drop 4K from my account to make up the difference since not many shows seem to be in 4K anyway.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 17 2019, @01:28AM (1 child)
Why pay for such things? Just go with the free stuff (NSFW):
https://motherless.com/ [motherless.com]
https://www.pornhub.com/ [pornhub.com]
https://www.xvideos.com/ [xvideos.com]
And many others.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 18 2019, @11:48AM
http://redtube.com [redtube.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 17 2019, @01:09PM
They won't branch out to porn
Redtube and co already have that covered.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 16 2019, @10:45PM (5 children)
No regrets.
I can't wait till the general population starts realizing the privacy invasions that come with online services and we revert back to the 90s when the internet was not a requirement to use your computer.
Culture should not be algorithmically driven.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Apparition on Wednesday January 16 2019, @11:04PM (2 children)
Good luck with that.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 17 2019, @02:08AM (1 child)
Might take a while but people are catching on. more likely we will just get better privacy laws.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 17 2019, @02:40AM
The question to ask is "why would be getting better privacy laws?". Why would we? Who is demanding it? The people aren't clamoring to loudly, and interests opposed are flush with cash to "speak" to congress.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 17 2019, @01:11PM
FTFY
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Thursday January 17 2019, @04:37PM
$0.
Same for me, no price increase here!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 17 2019, @06:59PM
Especially if you try to DRM the entire internet!
https://www.defectivebydesign.org/netflix [defectivebydesign.org]
(Score: 2) by corey on Thursday January 17 2019, @08:55PM (1 child)
Um, nothing. I don't have a Netflix account. I got kids, no time to sit and watch hours of TV.
Have a nice day.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 20 2019, @03:34AM
Put the kids in a military school, get a netflix account, enjoy life