Hulu Drops Prices Just as Netflix Raises Theirs
Much to the surprise and dismay of its’ 58 million US subscribers, the streaming giant Netflix has announced that they are raising the prices by 13-18% across all of its’ US plans. This price increase will begin immediately for new subscribers, and for current users over the next couple of months.
However, less than a week after Netflix went public with the news, Hulu declared that it will decrease the price of its most popular, basic streaming plan from $7.99 to $5.99 per month. The cost of this live TV service will increase by a few dollars, but its’ ad-free option will remain the same price. These changes will go into effect on February 26.
“My family pays for both Hulu and Netflix because they each carry a variety of shows we like to watch. Hulu is great for when we want to watch shows that are more current, but Netflix is good for older stuff,” junior Lily Vancans said.
Netflix’s most popular plan, before $10.99 per month for using two screens at once, will increase to $12.99. The least expensive $7.99 one-screen plan is now $8.99, while the premium option with four streams at a time will increase from $13.99 to $15.99 a month.
“I use my friend’s Netflix account because I don’t want to pay for Netflix and it’s a very beneficial relationship because I’ll pay for food when we get food and I just use his Netflix account,” junior Rhiannon Pailet said.
Another student described her reasoning for sticking with Netflix despite the change.
“I use Netflix because my family already had it and I really like a lot of the Netflix originals,” junior Olivia Spaulding said. “I don’t mind the increase in price because my parents pay for it.”
Price hikes are eventually needed to continue funding Netflix’s ever-growing slew of original content, as well as to license popular network television. On the other hand, Hulu is attempting to gain more domestic subscribers by offering the cheapest streaming plan, which has proven to be popular despite the inclusion of ads.
“The price increase [for Netflix] doesn’t really seem like that big of a deal just because of how much both streaming services have to offer,” Vancans said.
