Netflix increases Australian price for 4K streaming, other plans untouched

From today, Australian Netflix customers are about to be charged more, with the premium subscription plan increasing $2 from $17.99 to $19.99. Fortunately, though, other plan pricing remains unchanged.

The premium plan offers subscribers 4k streaming on available titles as well as four simultaneous streams, but less than a third of Australian Netflix subscribers are on that top tier. Most opt for the cheaper plans, as most Australian broadband connections would struggle to stream 4K content anyway.

For those on other Netflix plans, the basic Netflix Australia plan remains at $9.99 month for access with one device at a time, and the HD streaming plan which allows access by two simultaneous devices remains $13.99 a month.

If you don’t watch much 4K content on Netflix then downgrading from the 4K to the HD plan could be a good option to save $6 every month ($72/yr).

Netflix defended the increase in a statement to news.com.au:

“We change our prices from time to time and continue to invest heavily to grow in the depth and breadth of our content such as new shows like The Politician, Unbelievable, well-loved series like Stranger Things, The Good Place and The Crown, as well as improvements to our product.

“Our basic and standard memberships will remain at the same price, ensuring as many people as possible can enjoy our content.”

It also appears that the Netflix price rise in Australia is limited to this market only; other markets including the US had a price rise in January which we didn’t see, but they’re missing this one, so I guess fair is fair. Perhaps.

With the competition in streaming services continuing to heat up, there’s lots of places you can spend your money if Netflix’s content and value proposition doesn’t suit you.

Will this latest price rise result in you ditching Netflix altogether, down grading your plan or defecting to another streaming service such as STAN or the soon to be launched Disney+ ?