Netflix has started requiring subscribers with Apple iTunes pricing plans to pay directly to Netflix.
A company spokesperson said in a report published Monday (February 26) that all “Basic plan members who used an iTunes payment method” will now have to sign up directly with Netflix. he told The Verge.
Netflix didn’t add an in-app subscription option to its iOS app until 2015 and stopped offering that option in late 2018 because it objected to Apple’s 30% fee, the report said.
However, Netflix previously allowed long-time subscribers who chose that route to continue on their iTunes pricing plans, the report said.
According to the report, this change will allow subscribers to pay directly to Netflix using their credit or debit cards and either pay more for essentially the same plan or less for a plan that includes ads. Or, it says I need to terminate my subscription.
The news comes about a month after Netflix announced it would be reducing its lowest cost ad-free slots in some markets. The company had already made its Basic plan unavailable to new and returning members in the US, Canada and the UK.
“Advertising plans currently account for 40% of all Netflix sign-ups in our advertising markets, and we are retiring Basic plans in some of our advertising countries, starting with Canada and the UK in Q2, and retiring them from there. “We plan to do so,” the company said in a letter to shareholders dated January 23, accompanying its 2023 fourth-quarter results.
Other streaming services are changing their plans as well.
Amazon announced in December that it would begin adding commercials to Prime Video content in January for U.S. viewers, and for customers in several other countries in the coming months. US subscribers can continue watching content without commercial interruptions for an additional $2.99 per month.
Disney+ has begun cracking down on password sharing among its U.S. subscribers, sending out an email on February 7 notifying them of updated terms and conditions, including restrictions on sharing account credentials outside subscribers’ households. . No specific method for verifying compliance with these restrictions is disclosed.
