Netflix slashes subscription rates in 116 countries following success in India

Entertainment OTT player Netflix has slashed subscription rates in 116 countries following the success of its business model in India, the company said on Wednesday. Netflix has seen a 30 per cent growth in customer engagement and 24 per cent revenue growth year-on-year in India after it launched a low-priced subscription plan in the country in 2021.

The company had for the first time reduced subscription prices in the range of 20-60 per cent to suit the India market and deepen its penetration.

“These reductions — combined with an improved slate — helped grow engagement in India by nearly 30 per cent year-on-year while F/X (forex) neutral revenue growth in 2022 accelerated to 24 per cent (versus 19 per cent in 2021). Learning from this success, we reduced prices in an additional 116 countries in Q1,” Netflix said in its earnings report for March 2023 quarter.

The countries where the over-the-top (OTT) player has slashed the price contributed less than 5 per cent to its total revenue during financial year 2022.

“We believe that increasing adoption in these markets will help to maximize our revenue in longer term,” the company said.

Netflix’s global net income declined by about 18 per cent to USD 1,305 million in the quarter ended March 2023 from USD 1,597 million in the same period a year ago.

The revenue of Netflix, however, grew 3.7 per cent to USD 8,162 million during the reported quarter from USD 7,868 million in the March 2022 quarter.

The company’s paid membership globally grew 4.9 per cent on YoY basis to 232.5 million.

Netflix expects its net income to decline by about 1.6 per cent to USD 1,283 million in the April-June 2023 quarter while revenue to increase by 3.4 per cent to USD 8,242 million.

The company, which has earlier averse to advertisements on its platform, has now started advertisement-based plans with lower subscription price points compared to its initial plans.

“Engagement on our ads tier is above our initial expectations and, as expected, we’ve seen very little switching from our standard and premium plans,” Netflix said.