Netflix price drop affects more than 10m subscribers: Ampere Analysis

Effective immediately Netflix is to drop monthly subscription pricing in more than 100 territories globally. The SVoD incumbent’s Basic tier will record the highest percentage drop across a large number of territories. These territories, which span Central and South America (CSA), Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Asia Pacific (APAC) regions will see discounts for the basic tier range from 20% to nearly 60%, with the price drop kicking in instantly for new and existing subscribers. 

Not all Standard tier subscribers in markets which are receiving a discount to the Basic tier are to get a price reduction; subscribers in Vietnam and Malaysia will miss out, whilst the remainder will receive discounts ranging from 13% (just in the Philippines) to almost 50%. The Philippines joins Vietnam and Malaysia in receiving no discount for the Premium tier, all other discounted markets will receive a price drop of between 17% and 43%.

Netflix’s mobile tier, predominantly offered in markets with low fixed-line broadband penetration, will get price drops ranging between 25% and 33% in most markets. However, in more populous markets, such as India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Pakistan and Nigeria, the tier will not be discounted.

Among the countries receiving a discount, Netflix is offered in local currency in little more than 10. Localised pricing serves as a key way to increase accessibility for customers, ensuring subscribers are not exposed to currency volatility, such as the particularly strong USD in 2022. Netflix’s pricing was also passively localised in Croatia at the beginning of this year when the country joined the Eurozone. 

Across the 10 markets (Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Egypt, Ecuador, Vietnam, Morocco, Croatia and Kenya) which will see discounts to localised pricing, Netflix has a combined total of more than 10m subscribers. This suggests that more than 5% of Netflix’s 200m+ subscribers will see a reduction in the monthly price they pay for the service.
 

With Netflix reportedly planning to charge consumers extra to have additional “out of home” user access their account, these price drops potentially cancel out the extra cost to subscribers currently sharing accounts. While this move will have a negative average revenue per user (ARPU) impact on Netflix in these emerging markets, it could drive subscriber additions amongst consumers yet to take the service. 

In many markets where the standard tier of Netflix has been discounted the new price has been aligned to previous Basic tier pricing. This essentially positions the discount as a free upgrade from Basic to Standard. This upgrade increases the resolution from 720p to 1080p and allows 2 concurrent streams. These markets include Indonesia, Egypt, Ecuador, Morocco and Croatia.

The full list of territories where Netflix has dropped its pricing are:

Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Angola, Bangladesh, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Botswana, British Indian Ocean Territory, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Christmas Island, Comoros, Congo - Brazzaville, Congo - Kinshasa, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Kiribati, Laos, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar (Burma), Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Palestinian Territories, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Philippines, Pitcairn Islands, Romania, Rwanda, Samoa, São Tomé & Príncipe, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, St. Barthélemy, St. Helena, St. Lucia, St. Martin, St. Vincent & Grenadines, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Tunisia, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, Wallis & Futuna, Yemen, Zambia and Zimbabwe.