Streaming giant jacks up prices by 42 per cent

Amazon Prime Video will hike up its subscription fees in Australia by up to 42 per cent a month.

Amazon Prime Video will increase its streaming subscription fees by as much as 42.9 per cent from the end of this month.

Prime membership will hike up its monthly price from $6.99 to $9.99 while its annual fee will go up from $59.99 to $79.99.

The price rises are the first time Amazon has jacked up its fees since it launched Prime in Australia in 2018. The new fee structure goes into effect from May 24 for new members while existing members will see the updated pricing reflected on their bills from June 28.

Amazon only has one subscription tier, which includes video streaming with three simultaneous feeds and 4K definition. The Prime membership also includes free delivery on selected products on the online retailer’s website and Amazon Music.

While the price hike is steep on a percentage basis, Amazon Prime Video is still competitive next to its rivals. On a comparable plan in terms of simultaneous streams and picture quality, Netflix’s basic plan is $16.99 a month, Stan costs $16 a month, Binge* is $16 a month and Disney is $13.99 a month.

Popular series on Amazon Prime Video include Jack Ryan, The Boys, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel, The Wilds and Reacher. It commissioned the Lord of the Rings spin-off, The Rings of Power, at a cost of $US460 million for its first season.

The Boys is one of the most popular series on Amazon Prime Video. Picture: Panagiotis Pantazidis

Its latest high-profile project is the spy thriller Citadel, starring Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Richard Madden and Stanley Tucci.

Its Australian local commissions have included Class of ’07, The Test, Luxe Listings and the upcoming Lost Flowers of Alice Hart.

Amazon’s price rise comes at a time of elevated cost of living pressures for consumers. Some streamers, including Netflix and Binge, have rolled out a lower-priced subscription tier with advertising while Disney has committed to doing the same.

Netflix is also introducing mechanisms to police password sharing after it revealed 100 million member households engage in the practice, which is in violation of its terms and conditions. The crackdown is already in effect in New Zealand, Canada, Spain and Portugal and will be rolled out in the US before the end of the quarter.

Entertainment companies are facing the dual challenges of lower discretionary spending from consumers and the need to rein in costs on their end. Disney is in the middle of implementing widescale redundancies numbering in the thousands.

*Binge is majority-owned by News Corp, publisher of this website