Netflix's Price Hike for Many Existing Customers Will Start in May's Billing Cycle

Early this year, streaming giant Netflix announced that new subscribers and existing customers will both see a price hike for their plans. While the new rates took effect immediately after the announcement for new joiners, Netflix has now announced that existing subscribers will also be seeing a slight bump in price beginning with those whose billing cycles renew in May. Other users who have subsequent billing cycles after May will see their added costs when their subscriptions are renewed.

The smallest price change will be for the Basic plan, which will go up $1 USD per month from $7.99 USD to $8.99 USD. The Standard and Premium plans will both see a price change of $2 USD, moving up to $12.99 USD and $15.99 USD respectively. According to the streaming service, the price hikes are due to its effort in increasing the amount of quality original content for audiences. A Quartz study found that in 2018 alone, Netflix produced and added to its inventory nearly 90,000 minutes of original content — that’s almost 1,500 hours of fresh original content for customers to enjoy.

While some users of the service are understandably frustrated at the price increase, a survey last year by the Wall Street Journal actually revealed that more than 70% of Netflix subscribers felt that their experience has improved since first joining. It seems like the overall sentiment might warrant the price jump after all, at least from Netflix’s perspective.

In other things Netflix, check out the fresh trailer for Stranger Things 3: The Game.