The financial markets must be filled with binge-watchers because Netflix’s latest announcement of hiking subscription prices yet again was met with bullish activity on the exchange, sending the company’s stock price to an all-time high.
The streaming giant’s “standard” (which includes high-definition streaming and two concurrent streams to devices) plan — as of Oct. 5 for new subscribers Oct. 19 for current subscribers — increases from $9.99 per month to $10.99 per month. The company’s most expensive plan, which allows for 4K streaming and use on four simultaneous devices, increases from $11.99 to $13.99. The lower-tier plan, which allows for only SD streaming, stays where it is at $7.99 per month. More details on the plan features can be found on the company’s website.
Wall Street’s response to the price hike is a bit of a heel-turn from its reaction to past announcements. An October 2015 price hike drew such ire from new and current subscribers that the company attributed its missed quarterly growth projections to the backlash. Perhaps now the company has demonstrated more value with its original programming, as social media response has been tepid when compared to earlier such announcements.
Twitter comments appeared to be largely measured, informing others of the hike and the fact that more revenue means Netflix can acquire more content for viewers. Others validated the service’s value even at the new higher rates.
Of course, the news comes just weeks before the smash hit “Stranger Things” returns to Netflix for a second season, so perhaps many subscribers would just as soon make peace with any price hikes knowing they’ll be getting their fix of family-friendly horror quickly enough.
The stock closed Oct. 5 at $194.39, up 5.4% from its opening price, creating a market valuation of $83.93 billion.
