Netflix Price Hike 2022: What you need to know
Streaming giant Netflix is raising its prices for UK subscribers with immediate effect. Keep reading to find out how much your Netflix subscription is going up by and if you can avoid paying more.
Why is Netflix Increasing Its Subscription Price?
For the second time in less than 18 months, Netflix is raising its subscription for each of its 14 million UK subscribers. For the first time in 10 years, Netflix has increased the cost of its basic subscription.
Netflix has justified the updated pricing structure by stating that the new prices reflect its investment in the Netflix service and catalogue, and that it will allow Netflix to continue making new content for its subscribers.
The new Netflix price hike will affect both new and existing subscribers. Existing subscribers will be notified by email and the new price will take effect from their next billing cycle.
How Much Does a Netflix Subscription Cost in 2022?
For the past decade, a Basic Netflix subscription in the UK has been £5.99 per month. With the basic subscription, subscribers were able to watch and download TV shows and movies on a single device (smart TV, mobile, tablet, etc).
A basic Netflix subscription now costs £6.99 per month, an increase of £1.
At the other end of the spectrum, a Premium Netflix subscription was £13.99 per month and has increased by £2 to £15.99 per month.
You can compare Netflix’s new and old prices in the table below.
| Basic | Standard | Premium | |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Price | £6.99 | £10.99 | £15.99 |
| Old Price | £5.99 | £9.99 | £13.99 |
| Increase of | £1 (16.69%) | £1 (10.01%) | £2 (14.29%) |
Correct as of 11th March 2022
How Can I Avoid Paying More For Netflix?
If you’re currently subscribed to the basic plan, unfortunately you will end up paying more if you want to maintain your subscription. However, users on the Standard or Premium tiers could save money by downgrading their Netflix subscription.
To find out if you could save money by downgrading your Netflix subscription, take a look at the table below that explains what’s included in your subscription.
| What's Included | Basic | Standard | Premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subscription Cost | £ 6.99 | £ 10.99 | £ 15.99 |
| Number of screens you can watch on at the same time | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Number of phones or tablets you can have downloads on | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Unlimited movies, TV shows and mobile games | |||
| Watch on your laptop, TV, phone or tablet | |||
| HD available | |||
| Ultra HD available |
Correct as of 11th March 2022
As you can see, by downgrading from Netflix's Premium plan to its Standard plan, you could save £5 per month, or £60 per year. You would need to consider that you would only be able to watch Netflix on two devices at the same time, and you would lose access to Ultra HD.
Alternatively, you might want to Compare The Best UK Streaming Services and ditch Netflix altogether in favour of a different streaming service such as Netgem TV.
How to Change Your Netflix Plan
To upgrade or downgrade your Netflix plan, you simply need to follow these steps:
- Sign in to your Netflix account on a web browser
- Under Plan Details, choose Change Plan
- Decide which plan you want to switch to, and then press Continue or Update
- Check the confirmation page to make sure you’ve chosen the correct changes
- Press Confirm Change or Confirm
Your Netflix plan is changed with immediate effect, this means that your billing date will change and you may need to pay a pro-rata based payment if you’ve upgraded your Netflix plan, or you may receive a pro-rata based refund if you’ve downgraded your Netflix plan.