There are a lot of factors Netflix considered before determining the pricing model for Australia. The biggest one? The country’s piracy rate. Since Australia has the highest rates of piracy per capita than anywhere else in the world, we pay less than a lot of other countries for Netflix subscriptions.
Netflix’s biggest rival isn’t other popular streaming service, like Stan or Presto. It’s piracy. According to CFO David Wells, a country’s piracy rate widely influences Netflix’s pricing model when entering new markets. “Piracy is a governor in terms of our price in high piracy markets outside the US,” Wells told TorrentFreak.com. “We wouldn’t want to come out with a high price because there’s a lot of piracy, so we have to compete with that,” he added.
In Australia, a basic Netflix subscription costs $8.99. In comparison, Netflix starts at $10.25 in the US and $11.50 in the UK, when converted to AUD.
Pricing isn’t the only area where the country’s piracy rate affects Netflix. As a matter of fact, the streaming giant analyzes piracy figures to determine which shows would be successful in certain countries and make sure they deliver content the people actually want to watch. Bringing piracy down can be difficult, but beating it at its own game is certainly worth the try.
