Netflix is raising prices by killing its cheapest ad-free plan

With the Basic plan retiring, the next cheapest option is US$15.49 per month for the Standard tier (aka, new Basic!)—a sizable increase over time—or US$22.99 for the Premium tier. The ad-based tier still costs just US$6.99 per month but comes with commercial breaks. Ditching commercials was, ironically enough, one of the biggest draws for consumers to move to streaming alongside the convenience of watching stuff whenever you want.

As the Basic tier is phased out, consumers can add yet another increase to their monthly bills. And before anyone says “It’s just US$3.50 a month, that’s a small coffee at StarbucksSBUX 0.0% if you’re lucky!” the fact is that Netflix isn’t operating in a vacuum and consumers aren’t just watching their Netflix bill go up.

HBO, Apple TV+, Disney+ and Hulu, PlayStation Plus and so forth have all seen price hikes recently. So has the cost of housing, milk, bread, gas and on and on and on, and wages rarely keep up with this kind of inflationary pressure.

On top of all this, consumers should start worrying about the future of commercials and streaming. Right now there’s only the US$6.99 ad-based tier at Netflix but what’s stopping the company from making multiple tiers of ad-based memberships? Ad-lite could easily replace the Basic tier at US$9.99 or US$11.99.