In May 2025, Netflix raised the price of its ad-supported plan in South Korea from 5,500 won to 7,000 won a month and raised its Basic plan from 9,500 won to 12,000 won. Reported increases put the ad-supported tier at roughly 27 percent and the Basic tier at roughly 26 percent. The hike arrived while streaming competition in Korea was already tight and rivals were not changing fees.
The reaction was immediate and hostile. Coverage said Netflix was under fire because the new prices made it the latest platform to ask more from subscribers while leaving the customer with the same product and no obvious offsetting improvement. Korean reporting also said the country's price increase was among the highest Netflix had made globally that year, which only made the move look more aggressive.
The business logic was simple enough: raise revenue per user. The customer logic was simpler still: if the price goes up and the value does not, the service looks like a tax. In a market that already had a live streaming price war, Netflix managed to make itself look like the expensive option exactly when price sensitivity was highest.
Raised ad-supported and Basic plans in Korea by up to 27% with no new features, making rivals look generous and drawing backlash.
The company increased the entry-level and ad-supported tiers at the same time, making the first price users saw jump sharply
The increase landed in a market where rivals were keeping fees steady, so comparison shopping got easier
The message asked subscribers to accept a higher bill without a clearly visible new feature or exclusive benefit
A price increase is easier to defend when customers can see what changed. If the product looks the same, the market reads the hike as extraction.
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