this post was submitted on 24 Jan 2024
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Netflix Hints at Price Increases, Plans to Retire Basic Service Amid Ad-Tier Growth::Netflix says subscriptions to its ad-supported service grew by 70 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023.

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[–] [email protected] 97 points 10 months ago (4 children)

Why not? They saw subscriber count go up after blocking shared accounts. Not like people give a shit.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 10 months ago

People on average will roll over and take most anything.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago

I predicted exactly this when they first announced cheaper subscriptions with ads. People were raving that they'd abandon Netflix, because of price hikes commercials and preventing unlimited shared accounts. I suppose some did, but more was added with the cheaper option. So 100% a gain for Netflix. I even considered buying stock in Netflix, but didn't in part because the stock market was pretty shaky at the time. But it would have been a decent investment.

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[–] [email protected] 81 points 10 months ago (10 children)

18 billion yearly profit last I checked.

Not enough.

Never enough.

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[–] [email protected] 79 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The enshittification continues

[–] prole 6 points 10 months ago

It's called rent-seeking. There's already a well studied term for the phenomenon. I'm happy that young people are starting to recognize it, but this isn't anything new. This is how capitalism works.

[–] [email protected] 53 points 10 months ago

What I find interesting is it seems like we are again converging on the same service as cable. Which suggests that the best method of profiting off watching movies/tv at home is to have ad supported entertainment, with a monthly fee.

Once again, the profit motive ruins something good .

[–] [email protected] 53 points 10 months ago

I plan to retire Netflix amid ad growth.

Fuck off Netflix.

[–] [email protected] 39 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Netflix already costs over $185 a year. For that price I can rent 6 5k UHD movies a month at redbox and get much higher quality viewing. I can't find 6 good things to watch any given month on Netflix. I might turn my membership back on for the final season of Cobra Kai or Stranger Things, but there's just not much else that's compelling me to spend that money.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago (1 children)

And rip those disc's while you're at it...

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

With what type of software? Oh, MakeMKV, that sounds simple and easy!

[–] maccentric 6 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Redbox is still a thing? Huh

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Yeah, because its other plans are STUPIDLY expensive, their content and original shows don't justify the price.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Price anchoring, they show you* the big price and now you think the smaller one is a great deal.

*Not you you, you us, we. Hmmm

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago

Price anchoring should be illegal honestly

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

God their lineup sucks balls. It's all the same juvenile drama dressed up in different genre costumes.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

Fucking true, im only hanging around with it because the wife likes watching some of the shows…

[–] [email protected] 25 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I hate shareholder capitalism.

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Obligatory, “if it happens I’m out” post

For reals though fuck these gonks

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago

Corpo rat scum

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Just like when they banned shared accounts too I bet.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I cancelled prime the day they sent the no more ad free email.

Netflix doesn't even provide me with low quality counterfeit goods that get lost in transit, so this is a super easy decision.

Heh. What am I saying? I cancelled Netflix last year when my kid's graduation coincided with their shared password crackdown. I only still had it so she could use it.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 10 months ago

Same here and I cancelled Netflix back when they announced they were cracking down on shared accounts. Arrrrrrr

[–] [email protected] 19 points 10 months ago

I already unsubscribed and start sailing when the account share thing happened, but people are willing to take anything these days... so good for netflix I suppose.

101 businessman logic: slowly stretch it until numbers go down, and then back down a bit, just to keep trying stretching it further in a later time. Repeat.

infinite growth guaranteed.

This is why at this point I don't trust any subscription type thing, they are all destined to end up in that cycle, which, good for them, I think it'll have to explode eventually, or not, who cares, I'm already out anyway

[–] [email protected] 18 points 10 months ago (7 children)

Lol at the people still paying. Learn to use the internet.

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[–] Vertelleus 17 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

I only had Netflix because it was ~~free~~ included with my T-Maybe account. They are switching it to the ad supported tier today as base, and a user has to pay extra for the non-ad supported tiers.

My plan going forward is to watch the first episode with ads and if I like it I'll search the high seas for the rest.

The enshitification continues.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago

Once they changed it to paying that like $1 extra for the plan, I noped off TMobile. No use for it anymore when Google Fi is way cheaper for just 2 people. I just pirated everything anyways even when we had the subscription

[–] [email protected] 14 points 10 months ago

“Time to extract profit from the losers-er I mean customers that are left”

[–] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago (1 children)

We've really been weighing whether we use Netflix enough to justify the cost lately. Don't push us, Netflix.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

been free for two or three years. i haven't missed a thing, as far as i can tell.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 10 months ago

They smell the blood in the water now.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Hahaha. If they remove the "basic" which I believe is standard since that's the lowest I see. Only leaving the Premium option then I'm afraid I'm going to pull a full dragon's den.

I really did like Netflix, but they're just getting greedy and trying to extract blood from stone now. And for that reason, I'll be out should they remove the standard tier.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

Isn't this like actually the 5th or 6th price hike in the last year? I already cancelled Netflix when they cracked down on password sharing but this just feels like they're trying to lose customers

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


Netflix says it had a second straight quarter of strong growth in its ad-supported tier, though the business is still in its infancy.

The ad tier has gotten large enough, however, for the company to start retiring its cheapest ad-free option later this year.

Co-CEO Greg Peters said on the company’s earnings call that the ad tier has 23 million monthly active users in the 12 countries where it offers the plans, and he expects that number to continue growing.

Peters also noted that promotional bundles, à la wireless provider T-Mobile’s “Netflix on Us” deal, can help drive subscriber growth.

It will retire the plan — currently the least expensive ad-free option at Netflix — for all subscribers in Canada and the U.K. in the spring “and tak[e] it from there,” the company says in its letter to shareholders.

Netflix’s advertising team, led by Amy Reinhard, will have a lot more inventory to offer up in 2025, when it becomes the home of the WWE’s flagship program, Monday Night Raw.


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