Last month, Netflix increased its pricing for new signups effective December 10. Now the streaming pioneer is extending the price hike to existing users starting this week. The news comes shortly after Netflix also increased its subscription pricing in the US and Canada last fall.
UK users will now pay £9.99 for a Standard subscription, up from the current £8.99. The Premium tier will now be £13.99, an increase of £2. No price change will affect the Basic plan which will remain at £5.99.
Netflix attributes the price hike to improvements made to the service, as well as investing $1 billion in developing original UK content.
“This year we’re spending over $1bn in the UK on new, locally-made films, series and documentaries, helping to create thousands of jobs and showcasing British storytelling at its best – with everything from The Crown, to Sex Education and Top Boy, plus many, many more,” a Netflix spokesperson told Deadline.
“Our price change reflects the significant investments we’ve made in new TV shows and films, as well as improvements to our product. Our basic membership will remain at the same price, ensuring as many people as possible can enjoy our content.”
Netflix’s US price hike from October 29 left users paying $14 per month for the Standard pkan, a $1 increase, and the Premium plan is now $18 per month, a $2 increase.
By raising prices by just $1-2 across all markets (a move it seems to be implementing slowly), Netflix would stand to make between $500 million to $1 billion more in sales this year.