Netflix is raising its US prices, South Africa remains unscathed

Netflix is raising two of its tiers’ prices for US users, but that won’t affect South Africans, a spokesperson has said.

Though the prices in SA are hinged on the dollar, the fee hike is for US-users only.

According to Mashable, come November Netflix’s middle tier product will go from US$9.99 to US$10.99, while the premium will rise from US$11.99 to US$13.99.

The company says the hike is to accommodate “more exclusive TV shows and movies”, “new product features”, and the improvement of the “overall Netflix experience”.

Facing more competition than ever, Netflix is racing to stay ahead in the streaming service game by producing more quality original content — and the company expects to be paying more than it brings in for a good few years.

Earlier this week, Chief Content Creator Ted Sarandos confirmed that its budget will be closer to US$7-billion in 2018 — and, no, that doesn’t include another season of Sense8.

But all this means little for South Africans who — even in the event of a price hike — have little in the way of options.

Currently, Netflix’s premium tier costs US$11.99, which currently values around R150, but its basic tier is only around R109.

ShowMax costs just under at R99 per month, but its main selling point is stocking HBO shows, and Amazon Prime Video only costs US$5.99 a month and offers even less.

It will always be impossible to please everyone with the a perfect library as the fights for streaming rights become more intense, but at least for now it seems that Netflix has the upper-hand in the local streaming industry — despite the working at minimal profit.