Between 2019 and 2023, Netflix increased its prices several times. Considering its catalog (quantity and quality) and that of its competitors, are these increases justified? JustWatch, a search engine focused on streaming platforms, asked the question.
As you probably know, Netflix once again increased its prices in France this Friday, October 20, 2023. This price increase is part of a long line started in 2019 by the streaming platform. From €11.99 and €15.99 for Standard and Premium subscriptions that year, the bill now rises to €13.49 and €19.99 per month respectively.
For the user annoyed at having to pay more and more, the question now is whether these increases are really justified. JustWatch, a search engine that lists the catalogs of the main streaming platforms, has just published a new study on the subject entitled: Netflix VS the competition, is its higher price justified?
Netflix: prices have risen, the catalog has grown
A legitimate question, since as it stands, Netflix actually offers the most expensive streaming offer on the market (namely its Premium package at €19.99 per month). As demonstrated by the graph published by JustWatch, Netflix’s catalog continued to grow between 2019 and 2023, for going from 4,000 titles (films and series combined) to almost 8,000 today.
The converse is not true among Netflix’s main adversaries such as Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, OCS or even Canal+ SVOD. Note the absence of Apple TV+ in this study, justified (perhaps) by its still very limited catalog (which does not prevent it from being one of the best on the market currently).
If the Netflix library has therefore shown constant and linear growth, the result is sawtooth at Prime Video for example, with a catalog with a very fluctuating quantity between 2020 and 2022 in particular. For its part, the Disney+ catalog shows dizzying growth, going from less than 800 titles to 2,000 between 2020 and 2023. At the same time, it was urgent to the firm with big ears to fill its catalog if it wanted to remain competitive.
Importantly to note, the JustWatch chart also mentions the IMDb average of the Netflix, Prime Video, Canal+ and OCS catalogs. The opportunity to see that Netflix visibly manages to offer quantity and quality, with a score of 7.1/10 for its entire library. The platform shares this 3rd place in the ranking with Amazon Prime Video. Disney+ is on the second step of the podium, while OCS is in 1st position. Nothing surprising, however, when we know that OCS was until 2022 the exclusive broadcaster of HBO series on French territory.
Source: JustWatch