Let’s hope the boffins who track inflation are watching video streaming (and not for the entertainment value!). Netflix today raised the price on its premium tier by $3 a month to $22.99, a notably bigger increase than the last time it jacked up prices. Aggressive price increases are becoming standard in streaming, at least among the bigger companies, as we noted here recently. A few days ago, for instance, Disney implemented previously-announced price increases of $3 a month on both Hulu and Disney+, taking those two to $17.99 and $13.99 a month respectively.
We should add that, for both Netflix and Disney, these increases only apply to ad-free tiers. And for Netflix, only its most expensive tier, which offers the best video quality, as well as a basic tier the company no longer offers to new members. (It didn’t raise the price on its mid-range ad-free tier). Both Disney and Netflix are using pricing to push people into their low-priced tiers that carry commercials, which is where they see more potential for growth, given that it’s getting tougher to grow by signing up new subscribers. They’re not being as obnoxious about it as Amazon, which early next year will put ads on its Prime Video service and subscribers who hate ads will have to opt out by paying a few extra dollars a month. As we reported this week, Amazon hopes that strategy will ensure it has a bigger audience to sell to advertisers. We’re sure the FTC will be monitoring any “dark patterns” Amazon employs to complicate opting into the ad-free tier.
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