Watch out, Hulu Plus. Netflix has your number. Actually, the same number — $7.99. That’s the price of the just-introduced streaming-only Netflix plans and the price that Hulu Plus just dropped to last week.
It’s not all double rainbows though. Netflix also bumped up the price of the unlimited DVD plan across the board. Where it only cost $8.99 for one DVD at a time but an unlimited amount per month, it now costs $9.99. The spread gets a little more wild as the amount of DVDs rented increases proportionality with the three DVD plan costing $3 more, the five DVD plan costing $5 more and the eight DVD plan costing $8 more.
But let me join the ranks of Netfix subs only interested in streaming content in one joyous “huzzah!” The day is finally here when Netflix has a streaming-only plan.
Netflix sets the bar for streaming programming. It’s by far the de facto standard in its niche space partly because of the content, but mostly due to Netflix’s love for multi-platform support.
I can’t think of a platform that Netflix isn’t on. The Kindle? (jokes, all jokes) Netflix understands that launching on different platforms and operating systems is the best way to increase subscribers. A person is a lot more likely to sign up if they know that they’ll have access to content no matter what device they have. You can watch Netflix on a cell phone, HDTV, and computer, each throw multiple means. That’s success.
Sure, the DVD plans went up slightly, but perhaps that’s Netflix’s way of pushing people towards streaming. Because, you know, each time the price of a US postal stamp goes up, Netflix’s profits shrink a bit and that makes Reed Hastings sad.