By TRAVIS FOLEY

As of 2023, Netflix’s standard plan is 93.9% more expensive than its original price. 

Ever since its launch in 2007, Netflix has dominated the market as one of the most widely used streaming platforms. However, in current years, the platform has become overpriced given the quality of service it provides users. From canceling beloved original series, to cracking down on password sharing, Netflix has proved to be less than efficient when it comes to appeasing its subscribers. A fact that’s only made worse when the majority of their price increases come down to greed rather than improvement of the platform. 

Nearly every year, Netflix raises its prices, and Oct. 2023’s price increase saw the basic plan (a plan no longer available for sign up) increase from $9.99 to $11.99, and the premium plan increase from $19.99 to $22.99. While those prices rose, the platform’s ads tier ($6.99) and standard tier ($15.49) remained at their previous price.

With prices like these, subscribers are given the expectation of a worthwhile catalog of longstanding original content. And although Netflix has some worthwhile original series, a lot of them aren’t longstanding. Netflix is no stranger to cancellations, and in 2023 alone they canceled over twenty original series, among them being fan-favorites like “Shadow and Bone,” “Sex Education,” and “Inside Job.” The thing that makes these cancellations hurt so much is that viewers are given a taste of a great series, only to have it ripped from them with little chance of resolution. When subscribers are paying up to $22.99, this shouldn’t be something that they regularly have to deal with. 

Claire Watson, a junior at Redlands East Valley High School, said that some of her favorite series like, “Anne With An E,” “I Am Not Okay With This,” and “The End of the F***ing World” fell victim to past-waves of Netflix cancellations. Watson added, “[The cancellations] were very confusing… [The show] left you wanting more but the cancellations left the shows feeling unfinished and inconclusive.” 

In return for the cancellation of their favorite series, subscribers are given numerous poor-quality original series and films. Infamous series like “Hype House” and “Love is Blind” are just some examples of the poor-quality series Netflix has released in recent years, both of which score under 50% according to Rotten Tomatoes’ audience scores. As for recent original films, Netflix has released things like “He’s All That” and “Spy Kids: Armageddon,” both of which also score under 50% according to Rotten Tomatoes’ audience scores. By outputting poorly received content in favor of renewing beloved original series, Netflix decreases the value of their own platform and further proves their price increases to be unjustifiable. Subscribers shouldn’t have to face constant price increases when the platform constantly devalues itself by prioritizing newer, poor quality content over older content that people genuinely enjoy and want more of. 

Jasmine Gurrola, a junior at Citrus Valley High School, said, “I really liked [‘The Society’] and I was really mad about it being canceled… Seeing [Netflix] keep bad shows like ‘Ginny and Georgia’ instead of it was really upsetting.” 

Netflix also cracked down on password sharing in the summer of 2023 with a new feature that restricted account usage to a single household. The new feature boosted the platform’s subscriber count by nearly six million, causing them to jump from 238 million subscribers to around 244 million. Assuming that the majority of these new subscribers bought the standard tier, this would add around $1 billion to Netflix’s yearly revenue. According to statista.com, the basic plan that rose two dollars in Oct. of 2023 accounts for around 12% of Netflix subscribers. This means that the singular price increase added around $711 million to the platform’s yearly revenue. Subscribers shouldn’t have to deal with the price increase of the basic plan when the revenue it generates was already created earlier that year with the removal of password sharing, it’s simply unfair and greedy. 

However, this greed might just be what these constant price increases come down to. The price increase seen in Oct. of 2023 came directly at the tail end of the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, both of which demanded that streaming platforms pay better residuals to both actors and writers. Better residuals means that actors and writers alike will see an increase in the gradual earnings they gain from having their work featured on a streaming platform. Essentially, Netflix is minimizing the loss of profit they face from the strikes by maximizing the amount that subscribers must pay for the platform. Subscribers should only be forced to pay more for a streaming platform if the platform itself sees some sort of quality improvement, they shouldn’t have to pay more when it only seeks to maximize profit rather than improve its service. 

While Netflix subscribers may not be able to solve the service’s decline in quality and subsequent price increases, there are alternatives that they can turn to for entertainment. Services like Hulu provide a vast selection of content that spans numerous genres and niches. While other platforms like Max are home to beloved films like “The Batman,” “Coraline,” “Howl’s Moving Castle,” and the “Harry Potter” franchise. Even services like Prime Video routinely put out great original series like, “Daisy Jones & the Six,” “Invincible,” and “Fleabag,” all of which are shows that exceed the quality of the average Netflix original. 

Gurrola argued, “I think Hulu and Max are better than Netflix. I feel like they have a better selection of content and have quality stuff unlike Netflix. A lot of Netflix’s stuff is the same thing for a long time, and then they have a lot of stupid original shows that aren’t even that good.” 

Watson doubles down Gurrolas argument, saying that, “Max has a great selection of shows. Shows like ‘Euphoria’ and ‘White Lotus’ are so good, such amazing shows… They have a bunch of stuff, like Cartoon Network, [Adult Swim], Studio Ghibli, and just a bunch of great stuff all around. And Hulu also has so many great, lesser known movies that you can discover on it.”

As streaming continues to grow in both popularity and price, subscribers need to start considering which platforms are worth the price being charged. Although Netflix has dominated the market for years, its noticeable drop in quality and increase in price may be a sign that it’s time for a new platform to take its place as the face of streaming.

Featured Image: The Netflix logo placed atop a black and white, blurred, capture of the platform’s streaming catalog. (TRAVIS FOLEY/Ethic News Image)