Streaming is the great alternative to television that many people have been looking for for years, and platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video or HBO Max are already part of the entertainment options of many homes in Europe. After all, video on demand has some significant advantages over live contentsuch as the possibility of watching it at any time or even where to download it in the case of certain platforms.
The overall experience on these platforms has improved over time, but it is also true that there have been improvements. significant changes in usage policies by several of them. And it hasn’t always been positive.
And some have chosen to remove some of the benefits that users could enjoy, even making the subscription more expensive to access them. Something that contrasts a bit with the landing of these services in Europe and other countries.
Beginnings with advantages
When entering the market, many of the services available in Europe used a strategy to gain more users. These have been more or less aggressive in certain cases. For example, HBO Max, upon arrival in Europe offered a startup promotion that cut the subscription price in half to all users. Even after price increases, it remains that way and it is appreciated.
Netflix, for its part, offered a one month free trial in which it allowed users to use a premium account so that they had the opportunity to see if the service convinced them. It was necessary to enter payment information, but you could cancel at any time completely free.
Price of Disney+ upon arrival in Europe
In the case of Prime Video, Amazon includes it, along with other platforms, in the Amazon Prime subscription, which above all makes it a very interesting option for all users of the online store’s payment method. Disney+, for its part, arrived in Europe boasting of a very economical price, with a single subscription of 6.99 dollars per month or 69.99 dollars per year.
As is the case in other sectors, during the landing in Europe, at a time when the streaming It was not so much on the agenda, practically all platforms chose to offer affordable prices and great benefits, but it is something that has dissipated over time until arriving today ‘today, when some of these advantages have disappeared, In addition to having applied some changes in conditions that have attracted much criticism from users.
Price increases
Over time, all platforms have begun a process of changing their business model. Some of them justified it as a method to continue offering great productions, while others simply made these changes to adapt to their competition.
Last year, Disney+ decided to change its single subscription model and offer several packages, introducing advertising on the platform, in addition to increasing the price. The experience, which was previously offered at 8.99 dollars, has been replaced by the premium package, the only one to offer 4K and which costs 11.99 dollars per month, considerably increasing its cost.
Amazon Prime Video has been one of those that has applied these changes most recently, since last March it announced the increase in prices in Europe. Additionally, this measure led to the inclusion of advertisements for all users. The only way to remove them is to pay an additional 40% on the price with which you can continue enjoying the service as before. From a practical point of view, this is a decision that significantly changes the experience on the platform.
In the case of HBO Max, the company is the one that has changed its bet the least, since users who subscribe for the first month in Europe keep their lifetime discount of 50% on the rate. Beyond that, the company announced that in 2024 its price would increase from 8.99 to 9.99 dollars per month. In the United States there are several plans, with a logic similar to that of Netflix or Disney+, so it will be necessary to see if, after a while, they are also applied in Europe.
Goodbye to account sharing
Netflix and Disney+ also share another change in their policies that has been quite controversial, namely banning the use of shared accounts by people who do not reside in the same household. This is something that surprised many users at the time.
And, at the beginning, sharing the account with a friend or family member was not something prohibited, and not only that, but it was even a practice encouraged by the social networks of some of these platforms. After all, it was a good way to save something each month, and since limited concurrent playback is offered, it’s not a problem for the company’s servers.
Additional Netflix subscriber
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Netflix is able to detect this practice, but allows you to add external users for a price of 2.99 dollars per month. In the case of Disney+, the alternative is not yet entirely clear, although it seems that it will be necessary to create another independent account. As usual, the arrival of this measure in Europe will occur some time later than in the United States, where this practice is already used.
HBO Max also seems to want to end shared accounts, although it might take us a little longer to see this change happen. For now it seems that in 2024 we could see changes in this regard, when it becomes Max, a new platform that also includes the Discovery+ catalog.
