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Why Netflix Hiked Prices, Explained in One Chart

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Why Netflix Hiked Prices, Explained in One Chart

Why did Netflix just impose a price increase across U.S. plans? As the “KPop Demon Hunters” Oscar-winning hit song “Golden” says: “We’re goin’ up, up, up.”

It’s not rocket science. The formula is pretty simple: Invest in more content (Netflix is eyeing $20 billion in content cash spending in 2026, up 10%) to attract and retain streaming subscribers, and keep your profit margins ticking upward by increasing the retail price.

Under the new pricing, effective March 26 for new users and rolling out to current customers depending on their billing cycle, Netflix’s Standard plan (which has no ads and provides streaming on two devices simultaneously) is rising by $2, from $17.99 to $19.99/month. The ad-supported plan is going up a buck, from $7.99 to $8.99/month, and the top-tier Premium plan (no ads, streaming on up to four devices at once, Ultra HD and HDR) is increasing from $24.99 to $26.99/month..

But the question is: Why now?

First off, it would be difficult to imagine Netflix would have pulled this pricing lever — hiking fees for its approximately 86 million U.S. customers — if the deal to acquire Warner Bros. were still in play. That deal would have required approval by the Justice Department and other regulatory bodies, amid allegations by David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance (the winning bidder for Warner Bros. Discovery) that the combo of Netflix + HBO Max would create a monopolistic entity in the streaming biz.

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Netflix strongly disputed that, asserting it would have had a roughly 21% share of the U.S. subscription-streaming market with the addition of HBO Max. However, the optics of a Netflix price hike as the WB deal was pending would be terrible, especially after co-CEO Ted Sarandos testified at a Senate hearing that “We will give consumers more content for less” through the Warner Bros. deal. (Sarandos meant Netflix would have bundled its service with HBO Max at a price discount.)

Without the need to worry about such appearances in the midst of a massive M&A deal, the reason Netflix feels confident in ratcheting up prices in its biggest market is illustrated by this chart from Wall Street analyst firm MoffettNathanson. It estimates revenue streamers generated in 2025 as a function of total number of hours viewed.

In a nutshell, it shows that Netflix delivers the best bang for the buck of this cohort — it pulls in 48 cents per hour viewed, lower than anyone else. That indicates Netflix not only has upside in ad revenue relative to the others but also that has room to raise its pricing from a competitive standpoint.

Even with the new price increases, Netflix will still have a sector-low revenue/hour viewed metric (call it in the 50-cents-per-hour range). As the MoffettNathanson analysts put it: “Netflix delivers significant value to its subscribers that has room to be better monetized over time.”

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Note that all of Netflix’s competitors have also recently hiked prices. Disney+ and Hulu, HBO Max and NBCUniversal’s Peacock upped pricing last year, and Paramount+ raised prices in January. Next month, Amazon’s ad-free Prime Video tier (now called “Ultra”) is going up to $5/month.

And Netflix’s new pricing, while higher, keeps it roughly in line with the rest of the field. Indeed, its ad-supported tier remains cheaper than those from Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max and Peacock (and is now the same as Paramount+ with ads):

Netflix’s launch of the cheaper, ad-supported option, first introduced in November 2022, gave it an important tool to mitigate churn as it raises the price on its Standard (no ads) plans. Instead of presenting customers a take-it-or-leave-it price hike, Netflix can now steer those on the Standard package toward the lower-cost package with ads. In theory, the company is agnostic about which plan someone chooses: The ad revenue should make up the difference in subscription fees.

Netflix execs once swore they wouldn’t implement an advertising model, asserting that it’s a subpar user experience. But it’s clear people are willing to sit through ad breaks if it means paying less — and in the U.S., Netflix’s Standard With Ads plan is half the cost of the no-ads tier.

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The streaming giant’s U.S. price increases reinforce its long-range strategy, according to MoffettNathanson’s Robert Fishman: It maintains a “wide gap between its highest and lowest tiers to simultaneously maximize monetization of its least price-sensitive subscribers while nudging more price-sensitive customers toward its still-nascent ad tier, driving engagement and, in turn, advertising revenue,” the analyst wrote in a research note Friday. “The result is a ‘best of both worlds’ approach that captures value across the full spectrum of its subscriber base and should drive even higher margins for the leading profitable streaming service.”

Will some Netflix customers cancel over the latest fee increases? Yes, of course. But the math indicates that overall, it will yield higher returns — letting the company dig an even wider moat against competitors.

Pictured top: Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield in Netflix’s “Stranger Things” Season 4

SEE ALSO: U.S. Household Spending on Streaming Video Services Remains Flat at $69 per Month, as 68% Now Pay for Ad-Supported Tiers

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Secret Service Agent Assigned to Jill Biden Shoots Self in Leg

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Secret Service Agent Assigned to Jill Biden Shoots Self in Leg

A U.S. Secret Service agent assigned to former First Lady Jill Biden accidentally shot himself in the leg early on Friday near Philadelphia International Airport, according to a source familiar with the incident.

In a statement that did not mention Biden, the Secret Service said the incident occurred just after 8:30 a.m. EST and the agent suffered a non-life-threatening injury.

“There was no impact to the protectee’s movement and they were not present at the time of the incident,” the statement said.

The agent “accidentally discharged his firearm” while traveling in an unmarked SUV near the airport, Philadelphia Police Department Cpl. Jasmine Colón-Reilly said in a statement.

Emergency medical personnel responded to the scene and the agent was transported to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in stable condition, Colón-Reilly said.

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“The Secret Service’s Office of Professional Responsibility will be reviewing the facts and circumstances of this incident,” the Secret Service said.

The Secret Service is responsible for providing security to current and former presidents, vice presidents and their families and foreign leaders and is also an investigative agency.

(Reporting by Christian Martinez in Los Angeles; editing by Scott Malone and Chris Reese)

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Body found in search for missing American Airlines flight attendant in Colombia: mayor

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Body found in search for missing American Airlines flight attendant in Colombia: mayor

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A mayor in Colombia announced that a corpse had been discovered and was likely that of an American citizen who had gone missing. 

Eric Fernando Gutierrez Molina, a 32-year-old American Airlines flight attendant from Texas, had gone missing while in the foreign country, according to reports.

“Since last Sunday, we have been searching for Eric Gutiérrez, a U.S. citizen who is missing,” Medellín Mayor Federico Gutiérrez noted in a Friday post on X, according to a translation from Spanish.

AMERICAN AIRLINES FLIGHT ATTENDANT VANISHES DURING COLOMBIA LAYOVER: ‘HIS FAMILY IS DESPERATE’

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Medellin Mayor Federico Gutierrez speaks during a press conference on Dec. 19, 2025. (JAIME SALDARRIAGA / AFP via Getty Images)

“Unfortunately, a lifeless body has just been found between the municipality of Jericó and Puente Iglesias,” he noted.

“There is a very high probability that it is this person,” the mayor explained.

COLOMBIAN MILITARY PLANE CRASH KILLS AT LEAST 66, HEAD OF ARMED FORCES SAYS

Eric Fernando Gutierrez Molina (CDColExt/X)

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“We are heartbroken by the tragic passing of our colleague,” American Airlines noted in a statement provided to Fox News Digital on Saturday.

‘AMERICAS COUNTER CARTEL COALITION’: INSIDE THE US STRATEGY TO COMBAT NARCO TERROR, CONFRONT CHINA, OTHER FOES

An American Airlines Airbus A321 departs from Harry Reid International Airport on March 11, 2026, in Las Vegas, Nevada.  (Kevin Carter/Getty Images)

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“Our thoughts and support are with his family, loved ones and colleagues during this difficult time, and we are doing all we can to assist Colombian law enforcement in its investigation,” the company added.

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Fox News Digital’s Alexandra Koch contributed to this report

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Hundreds of thousands march through London in stand against the far right

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Hundreds of thousands march through London in stand against the far right

London, United Kingdom – Hundreds of thousands of people have marched through central London in what organisers are calling the largest ever demonstration against the far right in British history.

The Together Alliance march, backed by about 500 groups including trade unions, antiracism campaigners and Muslim representative bodies, brought together a diverse crowd of all ages from across the country on Saturday, converging on Whitehall near the Houses of Parliament.

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Organisers said that half a million people took part.

Kevin Courtney, chairman of the Together Alliance, told crowds the march “gives us all confidence to carry on.”

London’s Metropolitan Police put the figure considerably lower, at approximately 50,000, though officers acknowledged it was difficult to reach an accurate figure given how spread out the crowds were.

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The protest was met with a far smaller group of counterprotesters waving Israeli flags and Iran’s pre-1979 monarchical flag.

Aadam Muuse, a trade union activist, told Al Jazeera that racism and Islamophobia had moved from the fringes into mainstream politics, and was “being pushed by parliamentarians”.

He said the march was “much needed to push back against [Reform leader Nigel] Farage and his ilk,” adding that the populist party “must be defeated at the ballot box”.

Demonstrators march against ‘far-right extremism” from Park Lane to Trafalgar Square, organised by the Together Alliance, a coalition of unions and civil society groups, in London [Hannah McKay/Reuters]

Al Jazeera’s Milena Veselinovic, reporting from the march, said demonstrators were pushing back against what they saw as “the politics of hate and division” in the United Kingdom.

One demonstrator, activist and writer Hamja Ahsan, told Al Jazeera he was motivated to attend after a rally organised by the far-right agitator-activist Tommy Robinson that drew 150,000 people and was marred by violence that injured several police officers. Robinson is reportedly planning another rally in May.

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“We need to show them that we’re the majority,” Ahsan said. “At a street level, the far right won’t take over our streets.”

He said the atmosphere on Saturday was akin to the Notting Hill Carnival, as the march united people from all backgrounds, “from pensioners to children”.

Museum worker Charlotte Elliston told Al Jazeera that she also feels unsettled by the far right’s creeping rise.

“You think this would never happen here, and then all of a sudden this might happen,” she said. “You see that it is getting scary.”

A man holds a placard, as demonstrators march against far-right extremism from Park Lane to Trafalgar Square, organised by the Together Alliance, a coalition of unions and civil society groups, in London, Britain, March 28, 2026. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
A man holds a placard, as demonstrators march against far-right extremism from Park Lane to Trafalgar Square, organised by the Together Alliance, a coalition of unions and civil society groups, in London [Hannah McKay/Reuters]

Several left-wing politicians joined the demonstration.

Independent MP Jeremy Corbyn posted on X that the “problems we face are not caused by migrants or refugees”, arguing they were rooted instead in “an economic system rigged in favour of corporations and billionaires”.

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MP Zarah Sultana said on X, “There’s one minority we should be angry at: the billionaires funding division while working class people can’t make ends meet.”

Green Party leader Zack Polanski, Dianne Abbott and Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham were also among the crowds.

‘Historic demonstration’

The rights group Amnesty UK hailed the “historic demonstration”, saying marchers were “calling for a different vision of society – one which places dignity, compassion and human rights at its heart”.

A separate march organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which assembled at Exhibition Road near Hyde Park, converged with the main demonstration during the afternoon.

Eighteen people were arrested outside New Scotland Yard on Saturday after staging a protest in support of Palestine Action, the protest group which remains proscribed under the Terrorism Act despite a High Court ruling in February that the government’s decision to ban it was unlawful.

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Protesters holding placards gather ahead of speeches after a march against the far right, organised by the Together Alliance, in central London on March 28, 2026. (Photo by Henry NICHOLLS / AFP)
Protesters holding placards gather ahead of speeches after a march against the far right, organised by the Together Alliance, in central London [Henry Nicholls/AFP]

The march comes amid rising racism as Farage’s Reform party surges in the polls.

Hope Not Hate, an antiracism campaign group, warned earlier in March that the British far right is now “bigger, bolder and more extreme than ever before”.

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