Netflix lowers subscription price by up to 50% in more than 100 countries

24 February 2023 - 10:00 By Christopher Palmeri
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Netflix lowered the price of subscriptions in mostly lower-income regions where the company has fewer customers.
Netflix lowered the price of subscriptions in mostly lower-income regions where the company has fewer customers.
Image: Bloomberg

Netflix lowered the price of subscriptions in more than 100 countries, mostly lower-income regions where the company has fewer customers.

“We’re always exploring ways to improve our members’ experience,” Netflix said on Thursday.

“We can confirm we are updating the pricing of our plans in certain countries.”

The price cuts will impact more than 10-million subscribers in markets including Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines, the independent research firm Ampere Analysis said separately. They are taking place across Asia, the Americas and the Middle East.

Shares of the streaming leader fell as much as 5.2% to $317.47 in New York. They were up 14% this year through Wednesday’s close.

Netflix is lowering prices in countries that account for a small percentage of its subscriber base. The company has already reduced prices in India and a few markets in Southeast Asia, where growth has been slow.

Streaming services have generally been raising prices to capture more revenue from a business that has been extremely expensive to roll out. Some, including Netflix, have also launched lower-priced, ad-supported plans to reach more cost-conscious customers.

The price of the company’s basic subscription plan is dropping the most with about a 50% decline, Ampere said. Other tiers are being cut 17% to 25%. None of the affected markets has the ad-supported offering, Ampere said.

Netflix is starting to crack down on its users’ ability to share passwords, which could amount to a price increase for many customers.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.


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