Netflix Fires Up Disney, Amazon Rivalry By Cutting Prices In India; Analyst Cut Disney's Price Target

Netflix Inc NFLX has slashed the prices of its streaming services in India for the first time since launching five years ago in the South Asian nation, Reuters reports.

What Happened: The streaming giant cut prices by 60%, to ₹199 ($2.62) a month, for its basic plan that lets users watch content on a single device. The price of its mobile-only plan will drop a quarter to ₹149, with overall costs of various plans falling 18% to 60%.

Why It Matters:  Netflix intensified competition with The Walt Disney Co DIS and Amazon.com Inc AMZN by the move. For years, Netflix priced its products at a premium versus competitors in India like Disney and Amazon, citing the much higher income of households that spoke English and watched entertainment in the language.

Amazon Prime Video charges ₹179 ($2.36) a month. However, unlike Netflix, it allows users to watch content on multiple devices from the same account and offers a cheaper annual payment plan.

Disney+ Hotstar offers an annual premium plan with access to all its content in 4K at ₹1,499 ($19.76).

Analyst Rating on Disney: Macquarie analyst Tim Nollen lowered the price target on Disney to $185 from $195 (23% upside) and keeps an Outperform, telling investors that he is more cautious on network media as the "streaming wars go global." 

Looking ahead to 2022, he favors ad agencies over media networks, arguing that the ad market is strong and agency stocks tend to perform well in early rate tightening cycles.

Price Action: NFLX shares closed lower by 0.94% at $598.86 premarket on the last check Tuesday.