Tracking 12 Years of Netflix Premium Price Increases (+108%)
Tracking 12 Years of Netflix Premium Price Increases (+108%)
CPI taken from https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm
I fudged the CPI calculation a bit because I didn't do the compounding monthly, but I ensured that based on the CPI calculator, the starting value of $11.99 -> $16.43 from January 2013 -> December 2024.
To be fair, I think CPI is somewhat bullshit, but it was the easiest .gov source for inflation data that I knew about.
Data:
| Year | Basic | Standard with Ads | Standard | Premium | Premium Following CPI | CPI Inflation % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | $7.99 | - | - | – | - | - |
| 2012 | $7.99 | - | - | – | - | - |
| 2013 | $7.99 | - | $9.99 | $11.99 | $11.99 | 1.58% |
| 2014 | $7.99 | - | $10.99 | $13.99 | $12.19 | -0.89% |
| 2015 | $7.99 | - | $11.99 | $14.99 | $12.09 | 1.37% |
| 2016 | $7.99 | - | $11.99 | $14.99 | $12.26 | 2.50% |
| 2017 | $7.99 | - | $12.99 | $15.99 | $12.57 | 2.07% |
| 2018 | $7.99 | - | $12.99 | $15.99 | $12.84 | 1.55% |
| 2019 | $8.99 | - | $13.99 | $16.99 | $13.05 | 2.49% |
| 2020 | $8.99 | - | $14.99 | $18.99 | $13.38 | 1.40% |
| 2021 | $8.99 | - | $14.99 | $18.99 | $13.58 | 7.48% |
| 2022 | $9.99 | - | $15.49 | $19.99 | $14.60 | 6.41% |
| 2023 | Phased Out | $6.99 | $15.49 | $19.99 | $15.55 | 3.09% |
| 2024 | – | $6.99 | $15.49 | $22.99 | $16.04 | 2.33% |
| 2025 | – | $7.99 | $17.99 | $24.99 | $16.43 | - |
edit: fixed a calculation mistake (accidentally was using 2012->2025 inflation not 2013->2025) edit 2: zeroed y axis
the first unlimited streaming-only was $7.99 in jan 2011. it had no ads and was literally 'unlimited'.
"should be" $11.45 today (dec 2024, acc to bis.gov).
but wait, they now charge extra for streaming outside the 'household', so better knock that down by at least one-third.
hey look, we're right back at $7.99.
Something this graph doesn't include is there was way more content. Everyone put their stuff on Netflix, and it wasn't a revolving door of awful Netflix originals.
So the normal "I just want to watch netflix" price has gone from $8 to $18. A 125% increase.
I'll turn this into a corporate selling point!
"Hey look, we decreased the price of premium by 17% over a 12 year period. (as compared to our standard plan)"
Yeah, which is even more insane. Probably should have graphed that.
Also doesn't take into account the sharing account purge. I would guess that's easily a +50% increase if we assume half of everyone using Netflix was sharing an account that then couldn't. Could be higher.
Could probably base a rough figure for that on subscriber count change after the restrictions were put into place.
Well put, that's the most commonly experienced anti-feature introduced, another less common one where they have been less and less lenient over the years is geolocation restrictions: people in the past could register with other countries (cheaper) pricing, today most legitimate customers cannot access their content even when traveling for a few days, or they risk getting blocked. Similarly to the region-codes on dvds and blurays, I can't imagine it really helps sales, but it siloes consumers into country blocks and monopolies tend to like that.
I had family members getting blocked when they were legitimately travelling for work. (Travel nurse) It's really bad and makes it so hard to use even when you're paying for it. Which. Is. Insane.
Zero that axis, please.
done.
This, please.
Sure sure. Hahah a fair point.
This is the way that it should be IMHO - the rich pay more, and get more in return. Like, hasn't the feature set of Premium increased? 4k, multiple household multiple screen whatever whatever. Anyway if they can afford it and want to, then that helps everyone out for them to support the entire platform.
More troubling to me (than whatever is going on with Premium that is way above most of our heads) is the recent uptick for Standard. Like the blue line is remarkably flat, and red was too until 2025. But iirc there are "details" there like that is only for people outside the USA, not that that one fact alone isn't high relevant, but that it's one example of a detail (and there may be several others along with it) that complicates interpretation of just these raw numbers. Like at that point I'd want to know the reason why the price went up only outside but not inside the USA - pure corporate greed? (Certainly that's one of the factors:-P, but is it the only one?) Laws passed in the other countries affected that makes it more expensive to operate there? A bit of both?
I like paying for Netflix, bc it's a superb player that handles network congestion and such very well and it signals content creators which content I want to see more of. I don't restrict myself to "only" what I can pay for, but if a show is on Netflix then I enjoy the convenience that it offers. The situation is nothing like what it used to be let's say 5 years ago, and I worry about how that will continue to evolve in a year or two, but for now it halfway works - and I'm not signing up for Disney or Paramount or Hulu or whatever so Netflix it is then. As long as I can afford it.
I think 4k was always the offering for premium. And yes, multiple screens, but then it became ONLY in the same household, so that isn't tracked here as well (features removed -- or disallowed)
The removal of basic and replacing it with a slightly cheaper ad free supported tier was all done to push people to purchase standard, which I agree, has started to rise at a faster pace recently as well.
I can assure you, any features they've added, have not accounted for what they've removed and the price increase.
I think 4k started to get added in 2014. Originally the premium plan was required for 4 screens vs the regular 2 screens.
"Netflix has been on a roll, driven by subscriber growth and price hikes. For the fourth quarter of 2024, the company reported net revenue of $10.2 billion, up from $8.8 billion in the year-ago period, while net income more than doubled to $1.9 billion. Netflix shares have soared 102% over the last 12 months as the company widens the gap with competitors. "
https://m.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/NFLX/netflix/net-income
Rich is when 4k Netflix