According to Demand Sage, Netflix is a streaming service used by approximately 221 million people in 2022. Recently Netflix has raised their prices to $9.99 for their cheapest plan. Netflix needs to stop raising their monthly subscription prices. 

Netflix was created 25 years ago on Aug. 29, 1997. It was founded in Scotts Valley, CA. Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings were the two software engineers responsible for creating the well-known streaming service. 

It started off as a website service. In 1997 DVD’s were very popular, so people could rent them through the Netflix website, and they would be mailed to the individual. It was hard for Randolph and Hastings to compete with DVD rental places, but Netflix had a great recommendation algorithm that kept them competitive with other business models used back then.

Then Netflix evolved to having monthly subscriptions for DVD’s. About a decade later, Netflix changed into a streaming service. Netflix did a great job of evolving to fit in with what was popular in the time period.

Netflix was a very successful business. According to Demand Sage, in 2017, Netflix had around 99 million subscribers, and in 2018, Netflix had around 124 million subscribers. Meaning from 2016 to 2017, Netflix subscribers moved up by 20%. However, in 2021, Netflix had approximately 220 million subscribers, and in 2022, Netflix has 221 million subscribers. So from 2021 to 2022 Netflix’s percentage of subscribers only moved up 0.5%. Even though their subscriber count is still slightly going up, the percentage has decreased exponentially. This is because of the increase of their monthly prices. 

Netflix doesn’t have the quality shows to continue to raise their prices. In 2021, 62 shows and movies left Netflix. “The Office” being one of these very popular pieces leaving. 

Netflix used to only cost $1 at its basic plan. Even with inflation the price increase is unbelievable to me. 

Unlike Netflix, other streaming services have reasonable prices. Disney+ has their cheapest plan at only $7.99 a month, an amazing $2 less than Netflix. While Hulu has plans starting at $6.99 a month. In my opinion, Hulu is a better streaming service than Netflix, and Disney+ is close. For them to charge plenty less while still having amazing things to offer is ridiculous to me. 

However, I do understand that Netflix offers interactive entertainment that acts sort of like video games. This is a unique feature that many other streaming services do not have. This creative way to engage the audience is primarily directed towards the young users. Even with this added bonus, the older consumers of Netflix have nothing to massively differentiate between Netflix and other entertainment providers. 

Additionally, Netflix will soon start charging people for sharing passwords. This means that if someone’s Netflix is being used in more than one home, it will be an additional charge. Along with upping the monthly fee, this new aspect will take more money from Netflix users. 

 Netflix has been a streaming service I have used for as long as I remember, but the money my family, and families across the globe spend on it is unfair.