Due to increased international competition in the streaming market, Netflix has lowered prices in more than 100 territories, in some cases halving the cost of monthly subscriptions, in an effort to increase member growth and retention.
Netflix is not raising pricing in nations and regions throughout Asia, South America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, the streamer’s price has decreased. In its two most developed markets, North America and Western Europe.
According to research firm Ampere Analysis, the price cuts affect more than 100 markets in total. Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Kenya, Iran, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Albania, North Macedonia, Slovakia, Yemen, Jordan, Libya, Slovenia, and Bulgaria are among those.
For instance, Netflix’s single-stream Basic plan is currently $3.99/month in Venezuela (down from $7.99 previously), as are the two-stream Standard plan’s current price of $5.99/month (down from $10.99), and the four-stream Premium tier’s current price of $7.99/month (down from $13.99 previously).
Basic in the Philippines was decreased from 369 to 249 per month, and Standard from 459 to 399 per month.
Netflix acknowledged that its prices have been lowered in “certain countries,” but it did not specify which ones. Prior to this, The Wall Street Journal covered the company’s pricing reductions in a few overseas regions.
“Members have never had more choices when it comes to entertainment. We’re always exploring ways to improve our members’ experience,” a rep said in a statement.
In Q4, Netflix added 7.7 million new subscribers, more than tripling its previous projection of 4.5 million. As a result, the company expects to have 230.75 million subscribers worldwide by the end of 2022.
On the results call in January, Greg Peters, Netflix’s newly appointed co-CEO after Reed Hastings stepped down, stated that the streaming service has a chance to draw in new customers in nations where it is not “deeply penetrated.”
“When you think about the pricing question… we want to make that spectrum even wider as we seek to serve more members around the world in trying to deliver appropriate value at those different price points,” Peters told analysts.
“And we’re doing a good job expanding that range… There’s a bunch of people around the world in countries where we’re not deeply penetrated, and we have more opportunities to go attract them.”
In the meantime, Netflix has started to expand the deployment of its paid-sharing service this year in an effort to turn unregistered password-sharing accounts into paying subscribers.
According to the terms of service for Netflix, users may only share their accounts with family members. In Canada, New Zealand, Portugal, and Spain, Netflix introduced a “buy an extra member” option earlier this month.
The company also announced that it would start blocking devices that it discovers are attempting to forcibly use another person’s account.
“This will not be a universally popular move,” Peters said on the earnings call. There will be “a bit of cancel reaction to that,” similar to what Netflix sees when it raises pricing. “Our job is to give them a little bit of a nudge and to create features that make transitioning to their own account easy and simple.”
Here’s the full list of countries where Netflix has reduced pricing, according to research firm Ampere Analysis: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Angola, Bangladesh, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, British Indian Ocean Territory, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Christmas Island, Comoros, Congo – Brazzaville, Congo – Kinshasa, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Kiribati, Laos, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar (Burma), Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Palestinian Territories, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Philippines, Pitcairn Islands, Romania, Rwanda, Samoa, São Tomé & Príncipe, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, St. Barthélemy, St. Helena, St. Lucia, St. Martin, St. Vincent & Grenadines, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Tunisia, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, Wallis & Futuna, Yemen, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
