Why Netflix Is Still Worth Your Money
Overview:
If you’ve ever tried to subscribe to any streaming service in India (commonly referred to as ‘OTT’), you might have noticed how greedy they’ve become — One asks you to pay directly for the annual plan without even trying it; while the other asks you to pay an extra fee just to remove Ads, Wait What?!
While these big platforms like JioHotstar and Prime play the game of greed, Netflix remains to be the only platform that respects the viewer, with absolutely no Ads, and no long-term commitments. But how does Netflix manage to do this? Read my Blog to know it all.
Netflix respects the Viewer:
Netflix offers their service to users with 4 tiers to choose from based on your budget and requirements which are:
Mobile — 480p, 1 Mobile or Tablet at a time (₹149)
Basic — 720p, 1 device at a time (₹199)
Standard — 1080p, 2 devices at a time (₹499)
Premium — 4K HDR,4 devices at a time, Spatial Audio (₹649)
So, as you can see the plans are quite affordable to begin with, perfectly fitting within the disposable amount Indians usually end up having, this is due to the Netflix pricing their plans as per India’s PPP, which I will explain later. All of these plans are for a period of 1 Month.
However, one thing to note is that all of these plans do not include even a single Ad, Yes, you heard me right, now let us look at Amazon’s prices:
Prime Lite (1 Year) — 720p, 1 device either mobile or TV (₹799)
Prime (1 Month) — 4K, 5 devices (₹299)
Prime (1 Year) — 4k, 5 devices (₹1,499)
So, as we can see the monthly plan is costlier than Netflix, however the yearly plan does offer great savings (~125/Month). But the shocking part is all of these plans include Ads on Prime Video. So yes, you’ve got to pay an additional fee just to remove ads which doesn’t make sense.
It’s like buying a geared bicycle only to realize you’ve got to pay to use all the gears to ride more efficiently. The fee to remove the ads is as follows:
₹129 per month
₹699 per year
So, add that on top of your plans and you get:
₹428 per month
₹2198 per year
That’s a ridiculous amount, isn’t it? I mean it is still cheaper than Netflix most top-tier plan but still, paying extra just to remove Ads, woah. And also, a keynote, Prime Lite viewers cannot upgrade to ad-free, yes that’s a lock they enforce.
So, in this way, many users who are on a budget and want to try first before going long-term would definitely choose Netflix. Now this of course depends upon what type of content you consume because both of these services have different offerings of content.
Netflix excels in a vast quality collection of K Dramas, while Prime has most of the popular Western shows. Wanna watch shows like Business Proposal, go Netflix; Off Campus, go with Prime Video.
How Netflix does this:
Okay, now let's talk about how Netflix does this, like pricing so aggressively and also placing 0 ads on its service. Firstly, Netflix is strictly a streaming company, it mainly provides only content that you watch (with the exception of free games).
So, the main goal of Netflix is to just keep you watching by using their service. They wouldn’t want to take any steps that would otherwise do the opposite of that. Also, since they only offer one type of service, it's much easier for them to price it lower.
Whereas Amazon Prime isn’t just Prime Video, it also includes:
Prime Shopping (Exclusive offers, Free fast deliveries)
Prime Music (Ad-free music)
Prime Gaming (Free games)
Prime Reading (Kindle e-books)
So yes, if you’re using all the other services of prime then the price tag is worth it, but if you’re a person who solely subscribed to prime for the video content, its barely going to be worth it. That doesn’t stop anyone from buying it, since many people can afford it, but to people who are on a budget, this seems like a showstopper.
Another reason why Netflix has so great prices is that they have priced their services according to India’s Purchase Power Parity (PPP) which basically helps to determine the cost a service or goods for a particular country based on the average pricing of various products.
This is the reason why Netflix is much costlier in the USA than in India, as if the USA prices were applied in India, most Indians wouldn’t be able to afford it (about ₹1499/Month). Also in December of 2021, Netflix slashed their prices across India to bring the lowest tier to just ₹149, which offers a great starting point for new users. Even if Netflix tries to increase their prices, they also face challenges in the already competitive streaming market in India.
Netflix also likes to promote their philosophy of “Cancel Anytime”, which is why they have no yearly or long-duration plans. Netflix gives the freedom to users to subscribe and cancel whenever the users feel. So, this way you can subscribe just for a particular show and cancel once you’re done.
While this also has the disadvantage for long-term users where they would be paying much more since there is no discounted annual plan. Also, the reason why Netflix has no ads in India compared to other countries is that Netflix isn’t dependent on India for its earnings.
Users in India do count towards its growth, but they don’t make up a massive enough chunk to pressurize Netflix to make more money. Netflix already earns enough from its major consumer bases primarily in the USA.
Conclusion:
Well, so as we have seen, Netflix offers a much more premium experience at an affordable starting price with no long-term commitment. The Ads on Prime video and other services are definitely a disappointment, especially realizing that you have to pay an extra fee just to watch your show in peace.
Of course, an Amazon Prime membership definitely includes much more than a Netflix subscription, but what is disappointing to me is that we need to pay an extra hefty fee just to remove ads which will never make sense to me. I wish streaming services would work on making their services better, firstly by removing ads for paid users.
Thank you for reading my analysis on why Netflix respects its viewers and how they can do it, this is Noah Rodrigues, for ByteSync Network, signing out.
This Blog was originally published on July 17, 2026 on Medium by ByteSync Network.
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