A new study has found nearly half of Netflix‘s users would cancel their subscription entirely if they increased the price of their ad-free tier.
The news follows from the streaming platform’s recent announcement that they were raising the price of their ad-free tier once the SAG strike ends. It was not clear how much prices would be raised, or exactly when this would take place. Netflix declined to comment on the report to NME.
In a new study by CivicScience, 39 per cent of users said if Netflix increased the rates of their ad-free account, they would cancel their subscription outright. 31 per cent reported they would subscribe to Netflix with ads; 29 per cent would continue with their ad-free subscription.
The study, which was conducted on October 10 and garnered around 4,000 respondents, also spoke to only ad-free subscribers about what they would do. 35 per cent said they would cancel Netflix, 17 per cent would down-grade to the ad-supported tier, and 48 per cent would continue with the raised fees.
The price hike will most likely be implemented in the US and Canada first. In the US, Netflix’s standard plan (two streams, no ads) is currently $15.49 (£10.99) a month and the Premium tier (four streams) costs $19.99 (£15.99) month. Netflix last increased its prices in January 2022.
This year, Netflix also made moves to eliminate password-sharing between users, in which users would have to pay extra fees to add members to their account. The platform said this resulted in 5.9million new subscribers globally since March.
The writer’s strike reached a tentative end last week, but the actor’s strike is still continuing as negotiations recently broke down. Deadline released an official statement from SAG-AFTRA, which you can read here.