Netflix spent $19 billion on original productions in 2020 alone and says it's forced to raise prices: here's how much you pay now for the streaming service
Price increase in sight for Netflix subscriptions. The streaming platform dedicated to movies and TV series has announced an increase in monthly rates that, at the moment, is affecting overseas subscribers. It is not excluded, however, that soon the changes may also arrive in Italy.
Yesterday in the United States the new tariff for Netflix subscriptions came into force, reporting an increase with regard to the two highest plans and leaving unchanged the basic one. The first, defined Basic and which provides for the use of a single screen simultaneously, has maintained the price of $ 8.99 per month while Standard, two screens simultaneously, and Premium, up to 4 screens, have gone respectively from $ 12.99 to $ 13.99 and from $ 15.99 to $ 17.99. New subscribers will therefore have to pay from one to two dollars more to subscribe to the two plans, while old subscribers will see the new rate during the month of November in conjunction with the first renewal.
Netflix and the price increase: the reasons for the choice
The official reasons for the latest price increases was already expressed by Greg Peters, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Product Officer of Netflix. Peters stressed the interest of the company to invest even more heavily on new productions, as well as on the functionality of the platform itself.
In 2020 alone, Netflix has in fact spent about $19 billion, including new original content and improvements to the site, despite the pandemic has significantly affected many of the dynamics related to the world of cinema. This choice would therefore be fundamentally linked to the need to remain competitive with the productions of rivals such as Hulu, HBO Max and Disney+, just to name a few, and not related to the prices of competitors as has often been rumored in the environment.
Netflix and the price increase: the situation in Italy
Although the official news has not yet arrived, the increase could also affect subscriptions to the platform on the Italian territory. Currently, the prices to access the extensive library of movies, TV series, animation and shows is € 7.99 for the Basic subscription, € 1.99 for the standard from two devices and Full HD content and € 15.99, again on a monthly basis, for four screens and streaming in 4K+ HDR.
As for the United States, the last increase on subscription rates dates back to 2019, with only a few months difference from its overseas counterpart. In fact, last year the change on Standard and Premium subscriptions had come on June 20, six months after the U.S. price hike occurred during the previous January.