Netflix is expected to announce a new price increase in the coming months.
It comes as the streaming company prepares to report its summer-quarter earnings later today (October 17).
In a note sent to his clients, Evercore ISI analyst Mark Mahaney has forecast a Netflix price hike “in the next 3-9 months, according to IndieWire.
With this week’s earnings report, there’s “the potential for a major price increase announcement, including the U.S.,” New Street Research analyst Dan Salmon also wrote in an October 15 note, according to Variety.
The ad-free versions of Disney’s Hulu ($18.99/month) and Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max ($16.99/month) are more expensive than Netflix’s Standard plan, and “we think Netflix boasts strong pricing power given it has not raised price on the Standard tier since January 2022,” Macquarie Equity Research analysts Tim Nollen and Ross Compton also recently wrote in a Q3 media and tech earnings preview.
NME has contacted Netflix for comment on the potential price rises.
It comes after the streaming service last raised prices in the UK and US this time last year with the price for the basic plan – the lowest tier plan without advertising – increasing from £6.99 to £7.99.
The premium plan, which allows users to watch in Ultra HD and download on six supported devices at a time, also increased from £15.99 to £17.99. The price of the basic and premium plans similarly were hiked in the US ($11.99/$22.99).
The prices for the ad-supported plan (£4.99) and the standard plan (£10.99) remained the same.
Netflix was also expected to announce further price rises earlier this year but it never came to fruition.
Elsewhere, a Tom Hanks film is becoming a sleeper hit on the streaming service two years after it first came to cinemas.
Although it was overlooked at the time, the 2022 comedy-drama A Man Called Otto is now topping the charts on the streamer, having just been added to its catalogue of films.
The film stars Hank as the titular character, a grumpy, lonely old man who ends up getting more involved in the lives of his neighbours than he bargained for, but finds connection with others where he least expected. Hanks also has a producer credit on the film.