Netflix raises UK prices to cover cost of content

The usual slightly weird reporting from the BBC:

Netflix is raising the cost of some of its UK subscriptions from next month, its customers have been told. The streaming service said the price rises reflected money spent on content.

Netflix is a superb service and their (few) original series are pretty good. I don’t like all of them, but there a couple of good ones each year (and lots of people watch ‘The Crown’, sigh). The price they charge reflects purely ‘what they can get away with’ and has little to do with what they spend on original content. I’ll pay to watch something if I like it, I couldn’t care if it was done on a shoestring or it costs £ millions per episode. Clearly, for the bought-in content, the IP owner holds out for a large chunk of the income, so that’s probably pretty low margin.

Its standard monthly package will go up from £8.99 to £9.99 and its premium one will rise from £11.99 to £13.99, but its basic plan remains at £5.99.

So still superb value, then?

However, comparison site Uswitch said the timing of the price rises was unfortunate with UK citizens living under new national lockdowns.

Supply and demand. The lucky majority who still have jobs are spending a heck of a lot less on other fripperies, so they have more to spend on streaming services, computer games etc. And if I get the sack and have to live on a tight budget, Netflix will be one of the last things I cut back on. So Netflix can bump up their prices a bit. So far, the business has not been particularly profitable, so good luck to them.

But Netflix faces tough competition from rivals, such as Disney+, which has also announced price rises of £2 per month up to £7.99 or £79.90 for a full year.

There’s also good old fashioned terrestrial TV (yours for the price of a TV licence); Amazon Prime (about £6 a month, but which is shit); some cable TV channels (which seem to be very expensive); and there is loads of stuff on YouTube (free). So there’s more ‘tough competition’than you can shake a remote control at.

I originally only subscribed to Netflix so that The Lass could watch ‘Riverdale’, which was all the rage in her class at school for a while, so basic package £5.99. Then the rest of the family got into it (including me) and found stuff they liked, so we’re now on £9.99 for two screens. Even that’s not always enough, and I sometimes have to pull rank and chuck out one of the kids.