Pay more to watch Netflix as streaming giant earns 8.76 mn new subscribers

Netflix has increased prices of its plans and now, users will now have to pay $11.99 per month for its Basic plan, from the current $9.99, in the US.

Those paying $19.99 per month for its Premium plan will have to shell out $22.99. Netflix’s $6.99 ad-supported plan and $15.49 Standard tier will not change at the moment.

“As we deliver more value to our members, we occasionally ask them to pay a bit more,” Netflix wrote in its letter to shareholders late on Wednesday as it declared its Q3 quarterly results.

“Our starting price is extremely competitive with other streamers and at $6.99 per month in the US, for example, it’s much less than the average price of a single movie ticket,” said the company.

The company was yet to reveal if the new prices will be effective in other global markets, including the price-sensitive India market.

The streaming giant added 8.76 million new subscribers during the quarter, bringing the global total to 247.15 million.

"Our Q3 financials were in-line with to ahead of forecast with revenue of $8.5 billion, paid net adds of 9 million and operating margin of 22.4 per cent,” said Netflix.

In addition to its password-sharing crackdown “exceeding” expectations, Netflix also saw significant gains to its ad-supported plan, with membership increasing almost 70 per cent quarter over quarter. 

The company forecasts that revenue will increase 11 per cent in the fourth quarter, reaching $8.69 billion.