Netflix Testing A New, Pricier Subscription Tier Named ‘Ultra’
If you’ve been enjoying Netflix’s “premium” subscription tier, you might have to consider upgrading in the future. As reported by TuttoAndroid (via The Verge), the streaming giant is reportedly testing out a brand new subscription tier, dubbed “Ultra.”
The new Ultra tier would cost €16.99. While we have no confirmation of how much it would cost stateside, Netflix has traditionally followed one-to-one pricing, so a monthly cost of $16.99 would not be out of the realm of possibility.
So, what benefits would this new tier bring the table? Well, to better understand that, let’s compare the three existing tiers: Basic, Standard, and Premium. Across all tiers, users can stream an unlimited amount of movies and TV shows, and content can be streamed on any device that currently supports Netflix, including laptops, PCs, smartphones, tablets, video game consoles, smart TVs, and more. Still, there’s a few differences between each tier that are worth highlighting:
Basic – Netflix’s cheapest option only costs $7.99 a month, but in turn, it provides a fairly limited streaming service. Users can only have one active stream open at a time (not ideal for those with families or roommates), and content will not stream in high definition.
Standard – The middle-of-the-road tier is Netflix’s most popular, coming in at $10.99 per month. Content will now stream in high definition (up to 1080p, and subject to the end user’s bandwidth availability), and customers will be able to stream across two screens at once.
Premium – This is currently the most expensive subscription tier, costing $13.99 every month. In turn, subscribers can stream across four devices simultaneously. Also, content can stream in 4K resolution (2160p) and in high dynamic range (HDR), but you’ll have to have a TV or monitor capable of displaying ultra-high resolution content.
Netflix is testing a new, pricier ‘Ultra’ subscription tier https://t.co/Kt6EzLPnaC pic.twitter.com/BkY1G2H6OH
— The Verge (@verge) July 4, 2018
It doesn’t look like Netflix’s Ultra tier would offer all that much in terms of new capabilities, but would alter and drop features from the Premium tier in order to make it stand out. TuttoAndroid‘s report details how the Premium subscribers could lose the ability to stream content in HDR, which would then be made exclusive to the Ultra tier. Another option could be to limit Premium to two concurrent streams as opposed to four. As a result, those who would want to stream across three or four devices at the same time would need to upgrade to the Ultra tier.
Netflix did confirm to CNET that the new pricing tier is indeed real:
“In this case, we are testing slightly different price points and features to better understand how consumers value Netflix.”
A company representative also emphasized that the test will only be available to select users, and that specific price points and features from this test may not be offered in the future, as they are subject to change.
