Is Netflix going to raise prices again?

Good news, everyone!

Netflix is going to raise prices again this year!

Oh, did I say "good news?" I didn't mean that. I meant "here we go again."

Actually, Netflix has not announced a price increase. But a report in Variety says analysts expect a price increase. They base it on hints from Netflix in last quarter's earnings call.

Last October, Netflix increased the price of the Basic plan from $9.99 to $11.99 per month in the U.S., and also hiked prices of the tier in the U.K. and France. Netflix hasn't announced specific plans to hike subscription prices in 2024, but execs have said rate increases are on the table.

On the company's Q4 2023 earnings call, Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters noted that last year the streamer had "largely put price increases on hold" while it was rolling out the paid-sharing program — "because we saw that as a form of substitute price increase. Now that we're through that, we're able to resume our sort of standard approach toward price increases. And price increases, you've seen us do that in the U.S., U.K. and France. Those changes went well better than we forecasted."

Peters continued, "We will continue to monitor other countries and try and assess… when we've delivered enough additional entertainment value" to "ask [customers] to pay a bit more to keep that positive flywheel going and we can invest in more great films, series and games for those members. So, you know, the summary statement might be, 'Back to business as usual.'"

And, it is expected that "business as usual" means regular price increases.

My Streaming Life does not alway incorporate Netflix. It is again in my regular rotation of services. I'll subscribe to a service for 30 days, then cancel, and then when I find something I want on another service, I'll subscribe there for 30 days. Lots of content from a wide selection of services, but not a lot of subscription fees. I think Netflix is on target for April. Let's see if the price increase beats me.