Netflix price drop: India was already among the countries that paid the least subscription fee

Ever since the streaming giant has announced a cut in the subscription fee, users of Netflix in India seem to be on cloud nine. The new plan starts at Rs 149 per month. The price has been cut up to 60 per cent for Indian users, making the new plan applicable for all customers. 

The 60 per cent drop is in the platform's basic plan of ₹499 a month. Now, it would cost only Rs 199 a month. According to News18, as of 21 September 2021, Rs 499 plan was the fourth lowest for a country. India was among the countries that paid the least for a basic Netflix subscription. The top ten most cost-effective countries for standard plans of the OTT player included Argentina (Rs 343), Turkey (Rs 389), Brazil (Rs 455), India (Rs 499), Colombia (Rs 519), Philippines (Rs 675), South Africa (Rs 691), Hungary (Rs 781) and Indonesia (Rs 790). The Netflix subscription cost the highest in Malaysia among these countries with a basic plan of Rs 792 a month. 

India was already paying a low fee compared to most other countries and now, the cost has been cut by 60 per cent more. Monika Shergill, VP-Content, India, Netflix, told The Hindu that the idea behind this price drop is to get members and the audiences to enjoy the content through all devices. "to be able to experience Netflix on any device of their choice…which is why the difference between the mobile plan and the all devices plan is a smaller margin,” she told the daily. 

The subscription price for a standard plan in India has been reduced from ₹ 649 a month to ₹499 a month. The price for the premium plan has been reduced to ₹649 a month from ₹799 a month. Shergill added that India is not the lowest priced market. They have priced lower subscriptions for countries that are smaller than India but she thinks India is now 'fairly competitively priced'.

According to her, K dramas, Japanese anime and Spanish content are growing popular in India. She is observing cross-pollination with Indian content too being viewed in APAC countries, the Middle East and Latin America. "Netflix is a melting pot for that,” she said.

The price drop was announced by Alia Bhatt in a fun and quirky video today. Subscribers will receive a notification on their device, where they need to confirm the upgrade to select and use the plan they want. Overall, the prices have been reduced by 18-60 per cent across different plans.