Netflix Slashes Subscription Prices in 116 Countries Following India Success

Following the success of its low-cost plan in India, Netflix has slashed the prices of subscriptions in 116 countries.

Netflix's reduced subscription model in India showed almost a 30 percent growth in customer engagement and a 24 percent growth year-on-year.

The OTT platform introduced a low-cost subscription plan in India in 2021, reducing prices by almost 20-60 percent. The aim was to get more number of subscriptions in the country by making its plan more affordable.

"These reductions -- combined with an improved slate -- helped grow engagement in India by nearly 30 percent year-on-year while F/X (forex) neutral revenue growth in 2022 accelerated to 24 percent (versus 19 percent 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 116 countries where Netflix has slashed subscription prices contributed less than 5 percent of their total revenue last year.

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

As per the company data, Netflix had 232.5 million members in the first quarter of this year overall, and a net 1.75 million paid streaming members in the Asia-Pacific region.

Netflix has also been in the news for several other reasons. Recently, the OTT-streaming giant announced that it planned to close its DVD mailing business.

"Our goal has always been to provide the best service for our members but as the DVD business continues to shrink that's going to become increasingly hard," the company reported to ANI.

With reported profits, Netflix has also postponed its plan of tightening down on password-sharing plans to the second quarter of the this year.

"While this means that some of the expected membership growth and revenue benefit will fall in Q3 (third quarter) rather than Q2, we believe this will result in a better outcome for both our members and our business," Netflix said.