Netflix Hikes Subscription Prices In Japan Amid High Demand

Netflix Inc NFLX shares rose as much as 3.7% on Thursday after it was reported that the company is raising prices of its plans by up to 13% in Japan.

What Happened: The company is raising the price of its basic plan to JPY 990 ($9.38) from JPY 880 ($8.34) and for its standard plan to JPY 1,490 ($14.12) from JPY 1,320 ($12.51) per month. The premium 4K Ultra HD plan will stay at JPY 1,980 ($18.76), Nikkei Asia reported.

Netflix has reportedly piled on 2 million new subscribers in Japan over the past year and now has more than 5 million subscribers.

See Also: Netflix Is 'Very Bullish' On Asia

“We’re updating our prices so that we can continue to offer more variety of TV shows and films -- in addition to local shows such as ‘Alice in Borderland,’ and our ever-growing anime lineup,” Netflix said, as reported by Bloomberg.

Netflix shares touched a high of $559.46 on Thursday after opening at $539.81.

Why It Matters: Changes in consumer behavior due to the pandemic are boosting the demand for streaming services with the market expected to reach JPY 438.9 billion ($4.18 billion) in 2024, a 60% increase from 2019, according to Tokyo-based research company Gem Partners, Nikkei noted.

Competing Japanese services Paravi and NHK On Demand both cost less than $10 a month.  

In October, Netflix raised prices in the United States for its standard plan to $14 a month and for the premium version to $18 a month, marking up the plans by $1 and $2 respectively.

See Also: Netflix Kills Free Subscription Trials In US

Walt Disney Co’s DIS subscription-video-on-demand service also raised prices by $1 in the U.S. in December. 

Price Action: Netflix shares closed 2.36% higher at $552.16 on Thursday and fell 0.16% in the after-hours session.

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