Netflix’s streaming competitors have kept prices low since launching in order to build a subscriber base, but with rising content costs and slowing subscriber growth, that’s becoming untenable. Profits are becoming a bigger focus.
Adam Levy for The Motley Fool:
The cost of streaming is going up, and for once Netflix isn’t to blame.
The competition is finally starting to focus on becoming profitable after several years of keeping pricing low to grow their subscriber bases. That means price hikes. Walt Disney and Apple have already announced price hikes, while Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery have clearly stated intentions to do so next year.
Disney saw its budget balloon last year. Warner Bros. Discovery is working to get a handle on HBO Max’s budget. Apple’s budget seemingly has no limits as it focuses on sports and prestige programming. And Paramount raised its long-term budget by 20% earlier this year.
As price hikes come to market, Netflix’s pricing doesn’t look nearly as expensive. In fact, Netflix’s new Basic with Ads tier is priced below Disney+ and Hulu and could eventually become one of the least expensive options on the market if Netflix keeps the pricing steady.
MacDailyNews Take: An Apple TV+ ad-supported tier for the old price of $4.99/month makes sense.
As MacDailyNews reported in August via our little birdie, Apple looks to be planning to launch an ad-supported version of its Apple TV+ streaming-video platform, likely in 2023:
Hearing from a little birdie that Apple is planning to launch an ad-supported version of its Apple TV+ streaming-video platform. pic.twitter.com/tfbt7JyMLs
— MacDailyNews (@MacDailyNews) August 4, 2022
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