Netflix Prices Will Rise in May for 17 Million Subscribers

Streaming markets are still evolving, between features available, tiered subscriptions, pricing and more, and Netflix, granddaddy of them all, will soon up their prices without a majority of customers realizing. Say goodbye to those grandfathered into the Standard Netflix subscription, as you’ll be forking over an additional $2.00 each month without realizing.

For the moment at least, Netflix offers three separate Instant subscriptions, between Basic (or one screen at a time, non-HD) for $7.99 per month, $9.99 for the two-screen HD Standard, and $11.99 for Premium (four screens, Ultra HD). The Standard option previously cost $7.99, until existing customers were “grandfathered in” to the new plan at no extra charge, but as of May 2016, Business Insider says no more:

Next month, all grandfathered customers will be moved up to $9.99 for the standard plan. Analysts at UBS have estimated that this change will affect about 37% of US subscribers, or 17 million people. And most of those 17 million subscribers aren’t aware of the coming changes. In a recent JP Morgan survey, about 80% of those who will be “un-grandfathered” in May didn’t know the price hike was coming. UBS estimates that roughly 3% to 4% of affected subscribers will cancel.

That’s a cool $30+ million more for Netflix each month, perhaps understandable given the godlike amounts of money needed to keep doubling up on original programming, or at least terrible Adam Sandler movies. Still, 3-4% of subscribers lost is nothing to sneeze at, so will you be one of them?