YouTube TV has sent emails to subscribers telling them to expect a $8 price hike in the monthly subscription fees they pay for YouTube TV's Base Plan.  

“After nearly 3 years, we’re adjusting our monthly price from $64.99/month to $72.99/month,” the company said. “As content costs have risen and we continue to invest in the quality of our service, we are updating our price to keep bringing you the best possible service.”

The YouTube TV Base Plan membership price will change in the first billing cycle on or after April 18, 2023, the company explained. 

If the subscriber is on a “Base Plan promotional price or a trial, that promotion is still honored and unchanged,” the company said. 

Although YouTube TV recently forked over $2 billion a year for rights to Sunday Ticket, it isn’t clear what, if any impact that had on the price increase given the fact that the Sunday Ticket package will be sold separately to consumers for an additional subscription fee. 

YouTube has a history of making big price hikes when it does increase prices. Its last increase in 2020 was from $50 to $64.99. 

Other prices for the service are however falling. “We will also be lowering the price of our 4K Plus add-on from $19.99/month to $9.99/month,” the company said. “Users new to 4K Plus are eligible for a $4.99/month for 12 months promotional offer. For existing users, if you are on a promotional price below $10/month, you’ll enjoy that price until the promotional period is over, at which point you’ll automatically receive the new price of $9.99/month. If you’re currently paying above $9.99/month, your new price will be $9.99/month.”

LOS GATOS, Calif.—Netflix is upping the ante for subscribers that want access to its content, as the popular streaming service has announced an increase to its monthly subscriber fees for U.S. customers, according to multiple reports.

Netflix’s standard plan, which offers two HD streams, is increasing from $12.99/month to $13.99/month. It’s premium plan—offering four HD streams, including 4K/UHD content—is jumping from $15.99/month to $17.99/month. The streamer’s basic plan, featuring a single non-HD stream, remains at $8.99/month.

As a result of the price increase, Netflix’s stock jumped about 5% in the afternoon of Oct. 29. 

The announcement came after Netflix released its third quarter 2020 financial report, in which it experienced a slowdown in subscriber growth but still estimated that it will surpass 200 million subscribers by the end of the year.

According to reports, the new prices will be immediate for new subscribers. Current subscribers will be notified and switched to the new pricing over the next few months.

BOSTON—Consumers would like to get a price check on their TV services. According to a recent survey by Hub Entertainment Research, the average consumer feels like they are paying too much every month for TV services.

The new findings come from Hub’s annual “Monetizing Video” study. As part of the study, Hub asked consumers to estimate how much they pay for all of their TV subscriptions combined and then what they would consider a reasonable price for those services. The average monthly cost for current services was $94, and the average reasonable price given by consumers was $72, a difference of $22.

Drilling down into more specifics on the types of services, consumers with a traditional TV service (cable, satellite or telco) without also subscribing to a streaming service have a gap between what they actually pay ($106/month) and what they think is reasonable ($69/month) of $37. That is more than for consumers who have traditional TV with or without streaming services ($29 gap) and those with streaming services but no traditional TV ($6 gap).

Not surprisingly, the services that provide the most value according to Hub’s respondents are all streaming services—Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV+. Traditional TV services were the lowest, with 42% saying they found traditional TV to have excellent or good value.

PLUS: Netflix Tops 2020 'Must Keep TV' Rankings

An additional component of the Hub study showed that younger consumers also are willing to shell out more through streaming services for a chance to see first-run movies at home over the theater. Hub shared that 63% of consumers aged 18-34 would definitely or probably pay to stream a just-released movie; conversely, only 12% of consumers over the age 35 said they would (just 2% definitely would). More than half (57%) of 18-34 year olds would still prefer to stream first-run movies for up to $50.

“The strong preference for streaming, for TV and first-run movies, has the potential to fundamentally shift the entertainment distribution dynamic, assuming the industry is ready to accept the collateral damage—to the pay television and theater industries—such a move would leave in its wake,” said Peter Fondulas, principal at Hub and co-author of the study.

The full study is available at www.hubresearchllc.com.  

WASHINGTON—Netflix and some of its longtime subscribers are coming to a parting of the ways as the streaming service has seen some big changes this year in regards to price and the content it offers.

A report from the Kill the Cable Bill blog, which partnered with a third-party data analytics firm to complete its survey, details how 2019 has been a challenging year for the streaming giant, which has seen slowing subscriber growth and isn’t retaining its U.S. customers at its usual rate.

Of those surveyed that had recently canceled Netflix, 63% had been Netflix subscribers for more than a year. The next closest were subscribers that had been signed up for 7-12 months (14%). Those who had been signed up for six months or less were under 10% each, including those who had signed up for a one-month free trial (7%). And of those who canceled, 25% said they do not plan to subscribe to Netflix again; 58% were unsure and 17% said they would.

The two most cited reasons for canceling Netflix among respondents were price increases and a lack of interesting content. Netflix issued a price increase to its services in May, raising its standard offering from $10.99 to $12.99 and its premium plan, which offers 4K streaming, from $13.99 to $15.99. Nearly half (49.4%) cited these prices increases as the key factor in their decision to cancel.

Lack of interesting content was second at 42%. Some of this may stem from Netflix losing the rights to popular content like “Friends,” “The Office” and many Disney properties as new streaming services from WarnerMedia, NBCUniversal and Disney have or prepare to enter the market. In fact, other streaming services was the third most popular response for leaving at 40%.

Disney+ and Apple TV+ are the two latest streaming services to enter the market and both with a lower price than Netflix—$6.99 and $4.99, respectively. Reports on the first few days of Disney+ put the new streamer at more than 10 million subscribers.

Kill the Cable Bill points out the Netflix’s international subscriber growth is still strong, helping to bring its total subscriber count to 158 million across 190 countries.

“[Netflix] cannot afford to ignore the increased domestic churn it’s facing domestically as more competitors with appealing, lower-priced offerings attempt to win over customers in the coming quarters,” the blog reads.

However, despite the numbers from Kill the Cable Bill’s report, multiple outlets have reported that Netflix is not being increasingly impacted by the launch of Disney+ in terms of its subscriber loss or stock value.