Those of us who subscribed to Netflix before it was cool have for the last several months have enjoyed a grandfathered subscription price of $7.99 per month. However, starting next month our prices will increase to $9.99 per month to match the price increase Netflix implemented for new subscribers starting last year. Right now, an estimated 37% of Netflix’s subscriber base — or around 17 million customers — is still on the grandfathered rate, so that means millions of people are going to be paying more for the service starting in May.
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The good news here is that Netflix is giving us a lot more bang for our buck than it did two years ago. The company’s highly ambitious plan to produce tons of interesting original content has paid off big time and now most of us can’t imagine going without Orange is the New Black, Jessica Jones, or Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. All of this new content costs money, which is why it’s not surprising to see Netflix increasing prices.
That said, Time points us to a survey conducted by JP Morgan showing that 80% of affected Netflix subscribers have no idea that their prices are about to increase, so it might behoove Netflix to do a better job of getting the word out so it doesn’t come as a total shock.
For what it’s worth, Netflix’s $9.99 monthly subscription fee still costs less than the commercial-free version of Hulu, although it now costs more than
