Netflix is on a bit of a losing streak. Sure it might have over 148 million paid subscribers worldwide but for the first time ever, its subscriber growth has slowed dramatically. To counter last quarter’s slow roll, Netflix has launched a cheap mobile-only plan in India.
The mobile-only offer is a single-stream plan that only streams in 420p standard definition. As the name suggests, it’s only available on smartphones and tablets. The budget streaming plan is only available in India and currently costs Rps 199, which translates to around $4 locally at the time of writing.
In the last financial quarter, Netflix only gained an additional 2.7 million subscribers globally, about half of what it forecast. For the first time in years, the service lost customers in the US. And with more and more distributors launching their own streaming service, Netflix is also losing some of its most-watched shows in the U.S. Classics like Friends and The Office and its once symbiotic relationship with Marvel was slowly killed off with no hopes for revival.
In addition, quality Netflix shows are getting axed at an alarming rate. Most recently, the beloved BoJack companion Tuca and Bertie was cancelled before it really got a chance to spread its wings. Netflix is losing TV shows and customers. Releasing a cheaper mobile-only plan seems like a solid tactic to pump those subscriber numbers up.
The streaming giant’s recently announced partnership with Foxtel could help grow its Australian audience but Foxtel is more focused on keeping its customers rather than adding new ones (especially now that Game of Thrones is over).
What does this mean for Australians?
Unfortunately, Netflix's cheap new mobile-only plan doesn't mean much for Australians right now. Unless you’re using a VPN to tunnel your way to Mumbai, the cheapest you can score Netflix for is $9.99 per month. That gets you a dual-device plan with standard definition streaming.
Netflix has had a long-standing commitment to delivering steady streams to countries with shoddy internet and has mostly succeeded thanks to its proprietary compression technology, so it makes sense that India is one of the first countries on the bill for mobile-only streaming. However, Netflix has made it clear that it's testing the plan in India in the hopes of expanding it to more countries down the line.
On a global scale, Australia’s fixed-line internet speeds are pretty average but our mobile internet speeds are among some of the fastest in the world according to Speedtest’s Global Index. So it would make sense to target Aussies with a cheaper mobile-only plan. We’ll report on the mobile-only plan’s Australian availability as more details surface.
Brodie Fogg is also Associate Editor at Reviews Australia
Brodie Fogg
Managing Editor - Streaming
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