Netflix is reportedly planning to increase subscription prices after the actors’ strike in Hollywood ends. According to The Wall Street Journal , the streamer will ramp up its ad-free plans in the months ahead of a global rollout, starting with the U.S. and Canada. The company is yet to comment on the said price increase, but going by the last one (January 2022), we expect the price of the monthly plans to go up by $1 to $2 (roughly Rs. 83 to 166). This comes after Netflix also launched its cheaper ad-supported plan at $6.99 (approximately Rs. 582), which remains unavailable in India.
While other international streaming platforms like Max and Disney+ are raising prices to curb financial losses, Netflix has instead chosen to increase subscription numbers by cracking down on password sharing among customers. This approach appears to be working, considering the streamer reported adding 6 million new subscribers as of July, bringing its total membership to 238 million.this “Wall Street Journal” reports Costs for major streaming platforms have soared 25% as a means to make money and steer more price-sensitive customers toward low-cost ad-supported plans. It’s not surprising that the company is trying to match the price pools set by its competitors, with the leading price pool in the US being Disney+ at $13.99 (roughly Rs. 1,165). Raising the cost of ad-free plans also makes cheaper ad-supported plans look more attractive.
It’s unclear when the new prices will be released, but currently, the standard plan without ads costs $15.49 (approx. Rs. 1,289) per month in the US, while the premium plan is priced at $19.99 (approx. Rs. 1,664) per month. Allows you to stream content to up to four screens simultaneously.
Last week, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) finally ended a 148-day strike against major Hollywood studios to fight for fair pay and fight back against the unregulated use of artificial intelligence in screenwriting. These studios include the aforementioned Netflix and other major streaming services, all of which will now be forced to share streaming data with the WGA, specifically how long a stream was played, so that writers and actors can evaluate a movie or show performance and collect the residuals over them. It’s similar to television broadcasting, but the advent of online streaming means workers no longer make any extra money beyond the initial payment. Meanwhile, SAG-AFTRA is still on strike and trying to negotiate a fair deal with AMPTP.
In April, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos claimed that the streaming company was “better than most” studios in the event of a strike. Keeping distractions to a minimum is its vast content, thanks to its tendency to plan out releases before releasing them to the public. It would make sense for Netflix to wait until the strike is over in order to raise prices, since there isn’t much promise of new content beyond what they’ve already shown at the TUDUM event.
However, as actors and writers return to work, not only can they justify the price increase, but they can finally promote the film and do interviews like before. For the uninitiated, actors affiliated with the SAG-AFTRA union are not allowed to promote or work on their movies or shows during the strike, which has resulted in the likes of Dune: Part 2 and Spider-Man Beyond Several large projects – delayed verses.
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