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With a vast library of TV shows, movies, and original programming, Netflix is one of our picks for the best streaming services you can sign up for. But like its competitors, the price of Netflix varies depending on which subscription tier and features you choose.
Netflix pricing starts at $7 a month, but following a Netflix price hike in October 2023, you now have to pay $23 a month to get the best video quality without ads. And due to Netflix's recent crackdown on password sharing, it now costs an additional $8 a month to add an extra user to your account in the US. The fee will only apply to users who live outside of an account holder's household.
It also costs more to add another user to a subscription plan. Standard and Premium subscriptions are the only plans that offer extra member additions. Standard allows one extra member slot for $8 a month. Premium offers up to two extra member slots for $8 each monthly.
Quick tip: If you're interested in other streaming options, check out our guides to the best music streaming services and the top services to watch free movies online. And if you need a new media player to access your favorite services with, check out our guide to the best streaming devices.
JUANA SUMMERS, HOST: Comcast announced this week that it plans to offer a new streaming bundle with Peacock, Netflix and Apple TV+. And when I hear that, it sounds an awful lot like the packages of cable channels that cord-cutting consumers left cable TV to get away from. To help us understand what's going on here and to talk more about the future of streaming TV, we're joined by NPR TV critic and media analyst Eric Deggans. Hey, Eric.ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE: Hey.SUMMERS: Eric, just start by helping me understand. How does this new Comcast streaming bundle fit into the trends that you're seeing more broadly in the industry?DEGGANS: Well, I don't know if I can help you with understanding (laughter). No, Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts talked about this bundle at a recent conference. He called it StreamSaver. And he says it's going to allow consumers to get Comcast streaming service Peacock along with Netflix and Apple TV+ at what he called, quote, "a vastly reduced price," but he didn't offer any specific numbers. Now, subscribers would also have to use Comcast internet service like Xfinity or Xfinity TV to access the discount. This announcement comes as we're hearing more details about a different streaming service that would bundle sports coverage from Disney's ESPN, Fox and Warner Bro. Discovery. That's called Venu Sports, V-E-N-U. And there's also a new partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney to offer a bundle with their streaming services, Max, Disney+ and Hulu, for another yet undisclosed price. So I know that's a lot of names and services to process, but that just shows these companies are trying out a lot of different options for consumers.SUMMERS: Right. But we've seen consumers drop cable TV services because they're being asked to pay a whole lot of money for channels that they don't actually ever watch. Don't these streaming bundles that we're talking about here run the same sort of risk?DEGGANS: Absolutely. You bring up a great point. Now, initially, the attraction of streaming was that people could pay a cheaper price for a streaming service that's focused on what they like and watch a lot versus paying this big cable TV bill to get a bunch of channels that they never see. But the price of streaming services has risen steadily in recent years. And it's difficult for any one service, even one as big as Netflix, to offer everything that anyone would want to see. Now, also, you've got media companies like Comcast and Disney. They've got this serious problem. They own a lot of traditional TV platforms like broadcast networks and cable channels, which have provided the bulk of their revenue. But the audience is moving to these streaming services, where they make less money. So how do they come up with deals that keep subscribers inside their web of products? Bundles can help do that.SUMMERS: Eric, earlier, you also mentioned a sports bundle. What kind of content is missing from these setups?DEGGANS: Well, first of all, sports is one of the last types of TV programming that streamers don't dominate. So they've been stepping up to offer more. Now, beyond this Venu Sports project, Netflix has announced that we'll have football games on Christmas Day in a new deal with the NFL. ESPN is developing an app that's expected to be a little closer to the programming that they show on their main cable channels. Warner Bros. Discovery is trying to negotiate a new deal to maintain its access to NBA basketball games, and there's reports of competition with Comcast for those rights. And rumors that Amazon is going to have some basketball games, too. So there's lots of sports deals flying around. What we're not hearing about, as CNN's Oliver Darcy recently talked about in his "Reliable Sources" newsletter, is news programming. And this makes sense. You know, it's expensive. It can draw political fights. And it can seem old-fashioned to younger streaming audiences.SUMMERS: OK, but here's the question I have, Eric. Do you think these streaming bundles will actually work?DEGGANS: Yeah, as long as the price remains a value for the subscriber. Now, we'll probably see more of these bundles as streamers face more pressure to be profitable and they kind of relax on this notion that all of their content has to be as exclusive as possible. But the cost can't rise to the point where consumers feel, like many have with cable TV, that they're paying too much for services that they don't use.SUMMERS: That's NPR TV critic and media analyst Eric Deggans. Eric, thank you.DEGGANS: Thank you.
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Netflix, the video streaming giant, has announced plans for at least two entertainment concept venues, called Netflix House, at shopping centers in Dallas and King of Prussia, Pa., the company said Tuesday.
Who can get it? The Netflix & Max (with ads) perk will be available December 7 to Verizon mobile customers on our Unlimited Welcome, Unlimited Plus or Unlimited Ultimate plans. Enroll in myPlan and take advantage of the offer by visiting verizon.com/myplan.
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For the 75th annual Emmy Awards, the streamer earned 103 nominations, won 22, with series like Beef making history and sweeping the competition. If you're looking for something new to watch, Netflix should be your first pick.
Depending on the plan you choose, Netflix costs between $7 and $23 per month, which is at the higher end for a streaming service, as you can see in the chart below. However, the pricier package lets you watch up to four screens at once and create different user profiles. Thanks to its sheer variety and number of new things to watch, Netflix also gives you the most bang for your buck.
Between 2012 and 2013, Netflix premiered its first original TV shows, including Lilyhammer, House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black. Today, it has a catalog of more than 1,500 original TV shows and movies, including global hits like Stranger Things, Emmy winners such as Bridgerton and The Crown, as well as Oscar-nominated movies such as All Quiet on the Western Front and Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio.
The company launched its ad-supported tier in November 2022 for $7 per month. It's since become the streamer's most popular plan, even with the company's password-sharing crackdown in effect where you pay more if you want people outside your household on your account. The days of crowdfunding your Netflix subscription have ended.
We should mention that Netflix's slate of video games is growing at a rapid pace, with the stream launching new games every month. Though access is only available for mobile users, the company has been conducting tests for the TV app.
Like Max's ad-supported subscription, the Netflix with ads $7 plan promises roughly 4 to 5 minutes of commercials per hour of content. The streamer also said it would implement frequency caps to prevent viewers from seeing the same ads over and over while watching an episode or movie. However, we found that not every title -- new or old -- features ads and the length of each ad break varies.
For example, Community episodes do not have any ads, not even a pre-roll before an episode of the show begins. The Bodyguard had a 30-second pre-roll, but no ads played during the entire movie. Jane the Virgin, on the other hand, had three ad breaks and a 30-second pre-roll in a 40-minute episode. Each ad break lasted 60 seconds and contained two to three commercials.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith had longer commercial breaks during its two-hour runtime. After a 30-second pre-roll, there were four ad breaks, with the first three lasting 75 seconds each with three to four commercials. The last break ran for 1 minute total and contained two ads. 30-minute episodes of Attack on Titan and Cobra Kai only had two ad breaks.
When I watched the Netflix original Love is Blind, there was a 30-second pre-roll and four commercial breaks that lasted for 60 seconds each. There were two to three ads per break. Another Netflix original, Enola Holmes 2, only had a 30-second pre-roll of ads and no commercials during the film. This seems to reflect Netflix's commitment to omit ads from new movies.
The streamer also seems to keep its word about ad variety, and barely saw the same commercial twice while watching one title. Commercials for T-Mobile, Nyx, Cadillac, Progressive Insurance, Carnival's Funderstruck, Vaseline, Prada and Duracell were among those that aired. There was an M&Ms holiday-themed ad that syncs up with the current holiday season. I did not notice any commercials on kid-friendly content I tested in the adult profile for shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender, Cocomelon, Raising Dion or Lego Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitsu.
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