MW Netflix's second price hike in just over a year came sooner than expected, but don't expect subscribers to jump ship
By Lukas I. Alpert
Analysts had foreseen a bump in prices from the streaming giant to fund new content
Netflix is raising prices for the second time in just over a year, with this increase coming sooner than most analysts had predicted.
The scene following the collapse of Netflix's bid to buy Warner Bros. was perhaps a bit predictable - the streaming giant is raising prices.
The increase marks the second time in just over a year that Netflix has raised the cost of subscriptions.
Analysts say the move had been expected, although many had predicted the price increase would come later in the year. They say the price bump had likely been accelerated once regulatory scrutiny stemming from Netflix's $(NFLX)$ bid to acquire Warner Bros.' $(WBD)$ studio and streaming businesses evaporated following the abandonment of the deal in February.
The company could use the earlier revenue boost from the higher pricing to pay for new streaming content.
Netflix shares were up 0.6% in morning trading Friday to outperform the Nasdaq Composite COMP, which was down 0.8%. Shares have barely moved over the past year but have made their way back from lows reached during the ultimately unsuccessful pursuit of Warner Bros., which investors were wary of.
Netflix quietly announced a new pricing tier on its help page Thursday - without making a broader public announcement - bumping up prices by $1 per month for its ad-supported tier and $2 a month for its standard and premium plans in the U.S. and Canada.
That means subscribers will now pay $8.99 a month to watch Netflix with ads; $19.99 per month for the standard plan, which is ad-free and allows up to two separate users to watch at the same time; and $26.99 for its premium package, with which up to four people can watch simultaneously.
In addition, Netflix has raised its price to add additional members to accounts. For the standard package, it now costs $7.99 a month to add one extra member with ads and $9.99 without ads. At the premium tier, the cost is the same to add up to two additional members each.
So that means the highest-cost package - a premium subscription with two added members (who have their own accounts and log-ins, paid for by the master account holder) - would run as high as $46.97 a month.
That said, analysts say the increase is unlikely to lose Netflix many subscribers, given that its churn rate - the measure by which subscribers cancel their subscriptions - has always been far lower than most of its competitors, averaging around 2% monthly compared with 6% to 8% for many other services, according to data firm Antenna.
Much of that has to do with Netflix's industry-low cost for its ad-supported tier. That has enabled the company to keep customers who might cancel a higher-priced package but now are more likely to just downgrade their subscription.
"Netflix now has greater ability to take price on the top end while recapturing users looking to reduce their monthly bill in an industry-low priced ad-supported offering," media analyst Robert Fishman of MoffettNathanson wrote in a note to clients. "This reduces net churn for the overall platform, while driving incremental revenues via advertising as the company looks to aggressively scale this secondary revenue stream."
Several analysts say it was unclear whether Netflix's revenue-growth guidance for the year of 12% to 14% had included a planned rate increase, but they now expect the streamer to hit the higher end of its forecast range.
Given that the U.S. and Canada account for about 41% of Netflix's total global revenue, the price rise could result in a 3% revenue gain for the year, KeyBanc Capital Markets wrote in a note to clients.
Netflix is not the only streamer to raise prices recently. Amazon Prime (AMZN) recently announced it was raising its price for viewers to watch ad-free to $4.99 from $2.99 a month (on top of the annual Prime subscription fee). Paramount+ $(PSKY)$ also raised prices by a $1 a month across its range of subscription plans.
Paramount+ parent Paramount Skydance in late February snatched Warner Bros. Discovery out from under Netflix, which had an agreed deal in place since early December to acquire that company's streaming and studio operations.
-Lukas I. Alpert
This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 27, 2026 11:24 ET (15:24 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Comments