More TV and more movies means more costs. Makes sense to us.
Last week, Netflix announced that they would be increasing the subscription prices for their customers, coming into effect immediately for new customers, while existing customers would be informed when the changes are set to take place.
While there will be no change to the 1S basic price plan (the 1S basic plan price of £5.99 per month will remain the same), Netflix’s 2S (watch on two screens at the same time, High Definition when available) has been adjusted to £7.99 and 4S memberships (watch on four screens at the same time, includes High Definition and Ultra High Definition when available) have been adjusted to £9.99.
The 2S price plan will now be increased from £7.49 to £7.99 per month, while the 4S plan will be increased from £8.99 to £9.99 per month.
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings had the following about the price increase (via
Polygon):
"[P]rice is all relative to value. We’re continuing to increase the content offering and we’re seeing that reflected in viewing around the world."
Similarly, Netflix CFO David Wells said that the hike was a long time coming (via
EndGadget):
“This has been planned for a long time and we’re sort of growing, slowly growing and planning the business steadily, so we’ve assumed we’re going to grow ASP (average selling price) slowly over time and we’re taking the content up with that as well.”
One of the major cost increases includes the fact that, according to
Variety, Netflix plans to release 80 original movies in 2018 alone. Comparatively, 20th Century Fox will be releasing 13, Universal will release, and Warner Brothers plan on releasing 21 movies in 2018.
And if you're thinking they're all going to be low budget indie dramedy's thing again, because they include the following:
- Martin Scorsese's $100m gangster epic The Irishman starring Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci and Harvey Keitel.
- A six-part anthology movie titled The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs, written and directed by none other than The Coen Brothers.
- Hold The Dark, a new monster-horror movie starring Alexander Skarsgard, written and directed by the guy who already gave us two modern classics, Blue Ruin and Green Room.
- Duncan Jones' sorta sequel to his seminal sci-fi Moon, when Mute arrives it will be with an all-star cast.
- The director of The Raid and The Raid 2 is finally making another movie, as Apostle sees Dan Stevens (The Guest, Beauty & The Beast) go on a mission of a revenge against a religious cult that has kidnapped his sister.
So, yes, if you're wondering where that extra few quid a month is going, now you know.
