Changes in Italy and Spain are now being rolled-out.
This is a warning in case the UK joins.
[Netflix is starting to raise prices in
some countries as growth spurred
by its crackdown on password
sharing starts to fade.
The film and TV streaming giant said
it had already lifted subscription fees
in Japan and parts of Europe
as well as the Middle East and Africa
over the last month.
Changes in Italy and Spain are now being rolled-out.
In its latest results, Netflix announced
that it had added 5.1 million subscribers
between July and September - ahead of
forecasts but the smallest gain in
more than a year.
The company is under pressure to show
investors what will power growth
in the years ahead, as its already massive
reach makes finding new subscribers more difficult.
The last time Netflix saw signs of
slowdown, in 2022, it launched measures
to stop password sharing and said it would
offer a new streaming option with advertisements.
The crackdown unleashed a new wave of growth.
The firm has added more than 45 million
new members since last year and has
282 million subscribers globally.
Analysts also expect advertisements
to eventually become big business for Netflix.
For now, however, Netflix has said
it remains "early days" and warned
it did not expect it to start driving
growth until next year, despite many
subscribers opting for the ad-supported plan.
The plan, which is the company's least
expensive option, accounted for 50% of
new sign-ups in the places where it is offered
in the most recent quarter, Netflix said.
Even without a boost from advertising,
Netflix said revenue in the July-September
period was up 15% compared with the
same period last year, to more than
$9.8bn (£7.5bn).
Profit also rose from $1.6bn in the same period
last year to $2.3bn.
Netflix last raised prices in the UK and US in 2023
but that only affected certain plans.
It has left the price of its popular "standard plan"
without adverts untouched since 2022.
In the past, the company has sometimes
experimented with pricing in smaller countries
before making changes in major markets,
such as the US and UK.
Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at
Hargreaves Lansdown,
said Netflix's strong financial position
put the firm in a position to keep
spending money to make
new hits - the key if it hopes
to raise prices without backlash.
"
This is inherently a fickle market,
with consumers happy to
swap streamer if they don’t think
they’re getting value," he said.]
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq5exj06vg6o