Netflix slashes prices to compete with Disney+, Amazon

In its attempt to compete with its rivals Disney and Amazon, the famous streaming service Netflix cut on Tuesday the prices of its services in India for the first time since launching five years ago.

As it aims to reach higher on the streaming ladder, Netflix slashed its prices by 60 percent to $2.62 paid monthly. Its basic plan package allows subscribers to enjoy their content on one device only, according to the giant’s blogpost.

As for the price for its mobile-only plan, the streaming mogul will decrease a quarter to $1.96, leading to an 18 to 60 percent drop in overall prices.

Labeled the “real ‘Money Heist’” by Netflix, the altered list of prices outreaches that of its competitors, Disney and Amazon. Its latest maneuver to heighten its position in the market will give Netflix the upper hand in expanding its targeted audience to reach the rural areas, said an anonymous entertainment expert.

“To capture this market, it needs to bring down costs,” he added.

As for the giant’s rivals, Amazon Prime Video’s subscription charges $2.36 a month. One thing that differentiates Amazon from Netflix is that it delivers to users the service of simultaneously watching different content on various devices and from one account only.

Disney + Hotstar the other hand, provides its subscriber base with a $19.76 annual premium plan, with full access to all its materials for each month.

While Amazon and Netflix do not measure their monetary figures by country. Disney, however, does. In this year’s earnings call, Disney + Hotstar revealed that it only managed to reach less than 40 percent of its total subscriber base of 116 million users of its Disney+ channel.

In a 2018 interview, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings informed Reuters that the company never had any intentions to slash prices in India, stating, “we don’t have a pricing issue.”

It is worth mentioning that during that year, the company set an ambitious goal of reaching 100 million subscribers in India. As it had high expectations believing 2021 will be the year for the company to mark its presence in India. Throughout the year, it released more than 40 new titles, including films featuring famous Bollywood actors, stand-up comedians, and a multitude of original series.