Netflix raises prices on all plans in US | Hacker News Reader

Netflix raises prices on all plans in US

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My suspicion is that this has more to do with propping up their falling stock price, through increasing prices and profit though this is secondary to the stock price.

They've already maxed out their US and international subscriber base, they're likely running out of show ideas to bring in a new audience, and any subscriber base increase from here on is an uphill climb.

So simplest way to increase revenue, profits and hence stock price? Increase monthly subscription fees and hope that those who stay and pay the higher prices make up for people who will jump ship. My guess is they have done this analysis already internally and determined that it's the right way to go for company finances.

Just to summarize their financial situation: in 2020, they made $25 billion in revenue and $2.76 billion net income (slightly over 10% profit margin). Revenue grew 24% from 2019 to 2020 (I think likely subscriber count increase.)

Their stock price high seems to be $691 in November 2021, and since then their stock price has fallen roughly 25% to mid or low $500s now.

> they're likely running out of show ideas to bring in a new audience

I keep hearing that they keep cancelling shows, which makes people more reluctant to engage with new shows, which makes them more likely to get cancelled, which makes...cue self fulfilling doom spiral.

It'll be interesting to see if the price increase does increase profits or if it just chases off everyone that thought Netflix was barely worth it as is, and what that means for the streaming landscape overall.

Someone in the industry told me that they don’t renew shows after a couple of years because they would have to pay more for them. Basically, they’re operating like a sports team that relies on rookie contacts to maintain profitability.

My understanding is that television staff unions all include jumps in pay after certain numbers of seasons. That, coupled with declining viewership after 3-4 seasons (most shows seem to peak in season two or three, means that the show gets more expensive per view.

They might be able to get around this if they could design a show that has a constantly rotating cast and crew, so that by season 4 they don't have any original people left.

The Crown changes the main characters’ actors every two seasons.

I am nowhere near the type to complain too much about "woke" things but I certainly haven't seen many "originals" on Netflix that appeal to me in years. I don't need representation, I need interesting stories.

Heh, the really sad thing is that there are so many golden age sci fi stories that explore issues of race, sex, and gender, and could be adapted, or at least used as a template to start exploring with new material, but instead we get...Cowboy Bebop "fixing" Gren. It's frustrating.

Most of the golden age stories seem to explore one aspect of these issues, but don't prioritize 'representation'; Stranger in a Strange Land comes to mind. It's probably easier to just put a diverse cast into a bland story.

I don't think it is just about increasing profits and revenue. They are still investing the same percentage if not more to make shows. And International market expansion, even ignoring China is far from finished. ( South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, India, SEA, )

It is about leaving money on the table and sucking out oxygen from competition. Disney should raise price as well. Probably to $9.99 per month once they have enough content or other bundling as they already do now with premier and ESPN+.

In terms of household ( multiple devices ), that is $30 / month.

Most people get Amazon Prime for the services of Amazon, not its content. So this leaves family to decide whether they want to subscribe to Hulu, Cables, HBO or AppleTV+. Both Netflix and Disney are well aware of Apple's play here.

Disney raised prices in Canada recently. I came very close to canceling. The hike felt significant and not bundled with any increase in value. Netflix just announced a price increase in Canada. With Netflix, it is a bit stickier but previously, there were months we didn't watch it and I kept the subscription going. I might be paying more attention to these monthlies as they are starting to rack up.

"My suspicion is that this has more to do with propping up their falling stock price, through increasing prices and profit though this is secondary to the stock price."

Netflix has borrowed billions to finance their content. Debt that hasn't been fully factored into their monthly subscription prices. At some point they need to reduce their debt so they have to increase their monthlies to do that. Yes, it's about their stock price but it's mainly about making sure that they stay in business. I suspect that they will need to raise their prices even more. Also, expect commercials/ads to be introduced a little at a time in the future. It wouldn't surprise me to see an Ad system similar to the one that powers YouTube.

Who’s going to pay more than $20 a month for ads?

Comcast customers.

Especially up here in Canada, as a recent Disney+ subscriber, it has caused me to realize just how anemic Netflix’s selection is. Not to mention the quality of Netflix’s original content is far more miss than hit.

I also don’t appreciate that, as licensing changes; films and shows often appear and disappear. This might be the case with all the platforms, but Netflix appears to be the worst compared to Prime or Disney+.

I am already considering killing my Netflix subscription. Increasing the price would just make up my mind for me.

They just announced a 2 dollar a month price increase in Canada (per the radio).

Interesting. I have always considered Disney+ anemic with little content

Netflix UX is still miles ahead of competition

I canceled these guys last year, zero regrets, I'm not sure there's much of a good reason to still be subscribed to them in 2022. It has very few good movies, very few good shows, and quite frankly I'm not a fan of their politics or content deletion/promotion policies much either - it seems to really cater to "that" Twitter crowd. They can keep it, I suppose.

BitTorrent and RedBox is far more convenient with far better choices, and with the money I saved from just a couple of months of not paying Netflix, I was able to purchase a huge 2TB drive to store it all.

How much are you paying in total per year for all these streaming services? Calculate how much more fun you could have using that money for something else. Once I did that there was no going back.

Paying Chappelle tons of money and supporting him is the opposite of that Twitter crowd.

$20/mo for 4K streaming is insane in 2022.

I upgraded my TV recently and love me some 4K, but I was already stretching to justify my SD Netflix subscription. This might be the end of the road for my sub. Maybe I’ll give Peacock a try.

It’s… ok.

HBO has really impressed me. Hulu is my current fav.

When I review the list of original series that came out in 2021[0], the only thing I was interested in watching, watched to completion, and thoroughly enjoyed in 2021 (excluding children's programming) was Arcane and Black Summer (I know the latter is controversial but I enjoy its arthouse take on the genre even when the writing/plotting has its holes). Seinfeld and Cowboy Bebop (the animé) have been nice for nostalgia but I don't pay for re-runs. I finished The Witcher but the writing took a step back from season one.

Meanwhile, HBO had multiple quality series release this season both new and old. Highly recommend Station Eleven.

[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Netflix_original_progr...

Netflix has decided to finance quantity over quality. Personally, I think they need to finance better shows and reduce the number they release. To me the cost is not worth it anymore. I've switched over to HBO. Yes, they are more expensive but they have more quality shows to pick from.

USD 14/mo if you sign up in Mexico for the UHD streaming. I noticed Netflix does not block VPNs now, but does filter out non-Netflix originated content when you do.

If you have T-Mobile Magenta family plan, it covers Netflix basic subscription fully. For other Netflix plans it will cover up to some amount. I think it’s $12-$13. For me this is the only reason why I still have Netflix.

https://www.t-mobile.com/offers/netflix-on-us

In my case, I realized that I stopped opening Netflix app the moment they dropped The Office.

“Netflix pushes all reeled in users back to competition and/or piracy”

“Piracy levels surge after Netflix implements another price hike.”

Seriously how many times do they think they can get away with this in a time where new streaming services pop up every month?

So in other words, Netflix prices are increasing at ~3x the rate of inflation.

LOL CANCELLED

Guess that means no more brain rot. Oh well.

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