Netflix will soon start charging for password sharing, but it’s lowering its cost in more than 30 countries worldwide. Not the United States, however. “The streaming company’s recent price cuts span Middle Eastern countries including Yemen, Jordan, Libya, and Iran; sub-Saharan African markets including Kenya; and European countries such as Croatia, Slovenia and Bulgaria,” the Wall Street Journal reports. Affected markets also include Nicaragua, Ecuador, Venezuela, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines.
The price drop — which, in some cases, halves the cost of a subscription — is good news for more than 10 million subscribers, or roughly four percent of the company’s 230 million-plus subscribers.
While Netflix didn’t unveil the pricing changes in a big announcement, it communicated them locally. “Starting today, our Basic Plan in Malaysia is now RM28 per month for both new and existing members,” the streamer tweeted in that country, for example. The 28 Malaysian Ringgit ($6.32) is down from 35 Ringgit ($7.90) previously.
“It definitely goes against the recent trends not just for Netflix, but for the broader streaming industry,” John Hodulik, a media and entertainment analyst at UBS Group AG, told the WSJ. “Some of these cuts on a percentage basis are substantial.” That they’re happening before the password sharing crackdown goes into effect is not a coincidence. You can see the full list of markets with lowered subscription costs (congrats to Papua New Guinea!) here.