BUSINESS
The soaring costs of streaming services
August 16, 2023 - The days of cheap streaming are drawing to a close as studios hike prices to rival the expense of cable TV packages that viewers began ditching for Netflix some 15 years ago.
Related Graphics
View More
X (Twitter) loses 21 million users in Brazil ban
Global shortage of cocoa beans
U.S. election donations set to soar
Biggest box office weekend takings, summer 2024
Brain-controlled arm offers hope to amputees
The glory days of iron ore exports are over
Global bumper grain harvests see food prices fall
Starbucks replaces boss
Soaring gold price makes Olympic gold medals more valuable
Trump lags behind Harris with largest ever war chest
U.S. judge finds Google runs illegal search monopoly
Stocks rally after sell-off
Uncertain world markets trigger Nikkei index plunge
Paris is hosting a more cost-effective Olympics
“Deadpool & Wolverine” – one of 10 biggest movie openings
Tesla’s Q2 profits slump
Big orders for Boeing at Farnborough Airshow
Stegosaurus sets record at auction
Upskilling the global workforce
EU hikes tariffs on China’s EVs
Nvidia dethrones Microsoft and Apple
Russian assets to back Ukraine loan
Nvidia value hits $3tn, overtaking Apple
China’s EVs target Europe
The superpower battle for semiconductor supremacy
U.S. to curb civilian firearm exports to high-risk countries
Charting the billionaires as Musk’s wealth soars
Belgium, France, Italy and UK face rising debt challenge
Hollywood bounces back from summer of strikes
Most valuable coin collection to ever come to market
In the United States over the past few years, people have been leaving cable TV, enticed by the low prices of streaming services such as Netflix and Disney+, who between them now have nearly 400 million subscribers worldwide.
Soaring interest rates, which have made borrowing more expensive, together with cinema audiences not back to pre-pandemic levels, has taken its toll on movie studios, with the likes of Warner Bros and Disney seeing their stock values more than half.
Now Wall Street has grown impatient with the largely loss-making streaming services and global prices are going up.
Netflix is raising it's ad-free tier from $9.99 a month to $15.49 – a rise of 55%. Disney+ subscribers will soon have to pay $13.99 a month, a staggering increase of 75% on what it charged in October 2022.
Price increases could backfire if cash-strapped households decide to drop their costly subscriptions entirely – a risk studio executives seem prepared to take.