A bigger bill for Netflix and chill

Netflix is raising prices by a couple bucks for US and Canadian customers (again). 

On a micro level, that might not sound like a lot. But big picture, it is.

• US consumers are increasingly dropping dimes on streaming, now spending $55 per month, on average, with 4.5 subscriptions. 

• For Netflix, with ~75m US customers, $1.50 more per month equates to $1.35B in new annual revenue — without actually adding any new value for customers. It’s a great business model: more money, same work.

But Netflix is also fighting against higher production costs. Last year, the California Film Commission found covid protocols added 5% to the cost of film and TV production budgets.

This raises the question: For any streaming service, at what point do people ask, “Is this worth it?”

And to that, we say — remember the days when you paid $1.29 per song on iTunes?