Netflix plans to raise the price of its ad-free service once the actors’ strike in Hollywood ends, according to what the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported this Tuesday, which sent the streaming company’s shares up more than 3%. .
Thus, the platform would be studying increasing rates in several markets worldwide, although it will probably be implemented initially in the United States and Canada, according to sources familiar with the matter consulted by WSJ.
Negotiations between the actors union SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents the studios, are ongoing and their next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday.
The writers’ union reached a tentative agreement with AMPTP last week after five months of failed negotiations. Among them, an 18% increase in the minimum initial compensation that a writer must receive when working on original productions whose budgets are $30 million or higher. To which is added a 26% increase in the payment of residuals, as well as bonuses based on the audience generated.
However, it is not yet known how much the prices of Netflix services would increase, nor when these increases would come into effect, according to Europa Press.
Netflix declined to comment on the report.
The multinational, which has not commented on this information, lowered the rates of its subscription plans in some countries last February, while announcing that it planned to end password sharing, something it carried out in more than 100 countries in the month of May.
Netflix has been experimenting with new methods of generating money since before the conflict with Hollywood actors and screenwriters. This year, the platform implemented the payment of an extra for people who want to use an account and do not live with its owner. A measure that came into effect in Spain last February, and that in May was moved to other markets such as Mexico and Argentina.
In July, meanwhile, the company chose to eliminate its cheapest ad-free plan in the United States and the United Kingdom. Thus, it generated greater separation between its cheaper, ad-supported option, which launched at the end of 2022, and its more expensive but ad-free subscriptions.