Netflix increases subscription price by 13% and 20% in South Africa, effective June

Video streaming giant Netflix has introduced a price increase across its subscription plans in South Africa. In a discreet manner, the platform hiked the prices of its Mobile, Standard, and Premium plans, so customers will pay between 13 per cent and 20 per cent more than they cost at the end of April 2025.

Though Netflix has yet to make a public statement about the development, it has started notifying subscribers via email about the price hike, effective from June. The notification is being rolled out based on billing dates, as Netflix subscribers are charged monthly on the date they signed up.

On its website, the company provided a general statement that hinted at a possible price hike owing to local taxes, inflation, service upgrades, and new feature additions on the platform.

“Plans and pricing may change as we continue to improve our service and add more TV shows and movies. Adjustments can also happen in response to local market changes, such as changes to local taxes or inflation,” Netflix said.

Also Read: Netflix increases revenue by 12.5% to $10.54bn in Q1 2025, halts subscriber base counts.

In the new price regime in South Africa, Netflix Standard is going up 13 per cent from $8.81 (R159) to $9.92 (R179) while Netflix Mobile is receiving its first-ever price increase from $2.71 (R49) to $3.2 (R59), representing a 20 per cent increase. Also, subscribers on Netflix Premium will see a 15 per cent increase to $12.68 (R229) from $11 (R199) while the Netflix basic plan remains unchanged at R99 per month. 

While the video streaming company is notifying customers a month in advance that their fees are increasing, customers whose next billing date is before 7 June have not received an email, suggesting they will enjoy an additional month at the old price. Subscribers whose billing date is after the cutoff will start paying the new prices based on their billing date by June.

The new price adjustment is the second time Netflix will be increasing its prices in South Africa since its global launch in January 2016. Netflix last increased its South African prices in October 2021, which it attributed to reflect improvements in the quality of its service.

Would Netflix extend the price hike to Nigeria?

While the Netflix price hike in South Africa is the first in 4 years, the possibility of Nigerian subscribers experiencing the same might be high, considering that the recent Netflix price hike in Nigeria happened a year ago. In South Africa, the company attributed the price adjustment to economic changes that affected its operational capabilities, such as inflation, taxes, and prevailing infrastructure upgrades. 

In a July 2024 price hike in Nigeria, the standard plan subscription increased from N4,000 to N5,500, representing a 37.5 per cent increment for the plan which is popular among Nigerian subscribers for its HD quality and multi-screen viewing options. 

Whereas, its Basic plan, which was N2,900, increased by 21 per cent to N3,500, and the lowest subscription plan, Mobile, went up by 83 per cent from N1,200 to N2,200. Its Premium Plan also witnesses a 40 per cent increase from its previous rate of N5,000 per month.

The price increment was the second price adjustment by the platform within the space of three months in Nigeria, having implemented a price increment earlier in April 2024. At the time, Netflix said the price adjustment was part of a broader strategy to revise its subscription fees across various regions.

The company also explained that the changes were aimed at accelerating its revenue and earnings growth, following a pattern of periodic price hikes to support the expansion of content offerings.

Meanwhile, the price increases are not peculiar to Nigeria and South Africa. During its quarterly results in January 2025, Netflix said it was increasing prices in the US, Canada, Argentina, and Portugal. Later, it announced a price increase for the UK in February, and New Zealanders saw their prices go up in April. 

The development, the first since October 2023, saw its ad-supported tier raised from $6.99 to $7.99 per month, while the standard ad-free tier increased from $15.49 to $17.99 per month. The highest-priced premium tier has also increased from $22.99 to $24.99 per month.

Notably, Netflix had hinted during its Q1 2025 earnings announcement that price hikes would continue to spread across different markets and expand its advertising and ad tech platform.

In its latest financial report, Netflix saw a $10.54 billion revenue and $3.3 billion operating income in Q1 2025, representing a 12.5 per cent increase compared to Q1 2024 revenue. The quarterly report witnessed a change as it stopped disclosing its subscribers’ figures, a metric investors use to gauge its growth. Experts suggested that the video streaming giant made the change due to its declining subscriber growth rate, even though it ended 2024 with a huge subscriber base of 302 million. 

The company explained that in Q2 2025, it expects revenue to grow by 15 per cent, owing to price increases. “We are on track to reach sufficient scale with our member base in all ad countries in 2025,” it said.