Most subscription streaming services are raising their prices right now.
But generating more than $6.5 billion in profit last year, Netflix isn't like most subscription streaming businesses.
A report published Wednesday by the U.K.’s Ampere Analysis reveals that Netflix is cutting subscription prices, primarily for basic-tier service, in around 100 territories, affecting around 4% of its nearly 231 million subscribers globally.
The discounts apply primarily to countries in Central and South America, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Asia Pacific regions.
Cuts to basic-tier pricing are in the 20% to 60% range, Ampere said, with “standard,” “premium” and “mobile” tier pricing discounted, to a lesser degree, in some markets.
In markets like Indonesia, Egypt, Ecuador, Morocco and Croatia, standard-tier pricing has been adjusted to basic levels, so that basic customers can continue to pay the same monthly fee while upgrading their service from 720p HD to full 1080p, and from one-screen-at-a-time access to two screens.
Netflix has sent out notifications locally to affected subscribers, but it hasn't communicated the strategy formally in corporate press release fashion.
The price cuts don't apply to customers in North America or Western Europe.
So why is Netflix doing this now when every major "Streaming Wars" rival has recently upped its SVOD pricing?
Ampere said Netflix is trying to offset the impact of its password-sharing crackdown, acknowledging the cumulative impact of having tens of thousands of customers suddenly seeing significant increases to their monthly bills — or having to pay for their own Netflix bill for the first time — might exceed the bounds of price elasticity.
“With Netflix reportedly planning to charge consumers extra to have additional ‘out of home’ users access their account, these price drops potentially cancel out the extra cost to subscribers currently sharing accounts,” wrote Ampere’s Toby Holleran. “While this move will have a negative average revenue per user (ARPU) impact on Netflix in these emerging markets, it could drive subscriber additions amongst consumers yet to take the service.”
Ampere included the full list of affected countries here:
Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Angola, Bangladesh, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Botswana, British Indian Ocean Territory, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Christmas Island, Comoros, Congo - Brazzaville, Congo - Kinshasa, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Kiribati, Laos, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar (Burma), Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Palestinian Territories, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Philippines, Pitcairn Islands, Romania, Rwanda, Samoa, São Tomé & Príncipe, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, St. Barthélemy, St. Helena, St. Lucia, St. Martin, St. Vincent & Grenadines, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Tunisia, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, Wallis & Futuna, Yemen, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
