Netflix has discontinued its basic subscription service, forcing subscribers to pay an extra £4 a month if they want to watch their favourite shows without being interrupted by adverts.
Initially, the basic subscription cost £6.99 a month and allowed viewers to watch shows without adverts in standard definition on one screen – a popular option for subscribers who lived alone.
The decision to provide this option came in response to growing competition from rival streaming services, such as Amazon Prime and Disney +. A total of 5.2 million households subscribe to all three of these popular streaming services in the UK alone.
Under the new pricing system, UK and US users will have to pay £10.99 to enjoy commercial-free viewing on Netflix’s ‘Standard’ service, which also allows multiple screens to stream content simultaneously.
Users who still wish to pay less for their favourite shows will be able to continue to use Netflix’s cheaper advertising tier, which has grown to 5 million global subscribers since its launch 8 months ago.
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While this adjustment in pricing was first introduced in Canada, Netflix is expected to implement this change to its Basic plan for new customers across all markets – although existing subscribers will still have access to this tier as long as they continue to pay for it.
The price change follows Netflix’s previous announcement of a crackdown on ‘password sharing’ last year.
Previously, family and friends could share one account to watch shows in different households. Now, customers in the UK must pay an extra £4.99 per month on top of their existing subscription to share their account outside their home.
The move, which led to initial concerns that this might cause some subscribers to cancel their subscriptions, appears to have worked in Netflix’s favour.
Recent data shows Netflix had around 238.39 million paid subscribers worldwide as of the second quarter of 2023. This marked an increase of 5.89 million subscribers compared with the previous quarter.
