Starting next month, Netflix’s most expensive monthly plans will cost a few dollars more.
As Mashable reports, the streaming service will raise the price of both the standard and the premium subscription plans in the United States only. Those who pay $9.99 now will pay $10.99 starting in November, and those who pay $11.99 will need to pay $13.99 going forward. The price of the basic plan will remain unchanged at $7.99.
In 2015, Netflix raised the price of the standard service two dollars, to $9.99. Several months later they noted a drop in subscribers and slower growth overall. That hasn’t stopped them from pouring money into projects like the second season of Stranger Things, which premieres Oct. 27. Chief content officer Ted Sarandos told Variety it anticipated spending upwards of $7 billion on programming in 2018.
Reached for a statement, Netflix representatives told Polygon that these price increases should be seen as business as usual.
“From time to time,” the company said, “Netflix plans and pricing are adjusted as we add more exclusive TV shows and movies, introduce new product features and improve the overall Netflix experience to help members find something great to watch even faster.”
Bear in mind that even though Disney is pulling its movies off of the service, and even though Netflix has a lot of outstanding debt, the media giant isn’t in any financial trouble. As our Julia Alexander explains, “Netflix’s executives know what they’re doing. With more than 104 million subscribers worldwide, Netflix still has room to grow and learn.”