By: Nick Gambino
Netflix is once again raising its subscription prices, and the thing is, you can afford it. The streaming service is hiking the cost about 13 to 18 percent across its various plans.
13 to 18 percent might sound like a lot but when you look at how cheap all of their subscription plans are, you realize this isn’t going to be a ton of additional money flying out of your bank account every month. The highest price hike will cost you less than an additional $25 a year.
Here’s what we’re looking at:
– Basic plan will go from $7.99 to $8.99
– Standard HD plan will go from $10.99 to $12.99
– Premium plan will go from $13.99 to $15.99
As you can see, it’s not drastic. And considering how much content is readily available at your fingertips, it’s well worth it. Though, allow me to indulge in some devil’s advocacy for a moment.
When Netflix was arguably the only worthwhile streaming service on the block, $9, $13 or $16, would seem like no big deal. But now we have a number of services, all providing great shows and a variety of original and third-party movies, all vying for the contents of our wallet.
Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Go/Now, YouTube Premium, the new Disney+ and so many others seem like must-have streaming services, and this can quickly add up. While we used to allocate a mere $10 to our monthly streaming costs, a figure cheaper than renting two movies at Blockbuster back in the day, we’re now pushing towards $100.
These platforms also consistently threaten to take business away from Netflix as they continue to build up their own catalog to match the streaming giant. Netflix has responded to this threat by investing more and more in original productions. They spent an estimated $8 billion last year on original shows and movies and have seemingly put less attention on retaining established shows on their platform.
Popular shows like Family Guy, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, etc. have all left the site in the last year or so. This is due in large part to these being Fox shows which didn’t renew its contract with Netflix. God forbid if NBC shows Friends or The Office were to take their leave. Seeing as though NBC just announced their own streaming platform, this is not inconceivable. I think Netflix takes these kinds of shows for granted. It’s these endlessly rewatchable shows that helped build their streaming platform in the first place.
But still a $2 hike will not break the bank and you will most likely pay it. If only to watch season 3 of Stranger Things, a Netflix original show easily worth $16 a month.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nick Gambino is a regular script writer and tech beat reporter for NewsWatch. He lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and daughter.
