Netflix and DStv price changes in South Africa

A Netflix Premium subscription’s price has increased slightly more than DStv Premium’s price in the past decade, an analysis by MyBroadband shows.

Netflix has only adjusted its prices in South Africa three times since it first launched locally, whereas it regularly revises prices in larger markets like the US and Europe.

However, the last two local changes have been substantial enough for its top-end plan to outpace MultiChoice’s annual price increases on DStv Premium since 2016.

When Netflix launched in South Africa in January of that year, its plans were priced in dollars. At launch, a Netflix Premium subscription cost $11.99.

At the average exchange rate in that year, a subscriber would have paid roughly R176 per month for this membership. In that same year, a DStv Premium satellite subscription cost R759.

In 2018, Netflix introduced Rand-based pricing and fixed Premium’s price at R169, resulting in a slight increase over the average annual price.

These prices remained unchanged until 2021, when Netflix Premium increased by 17.8% to R199. With the latest price hike coming into effect in June 2025, Netflix Premium’s price will be R229.

That is R53 more expensive than when it launched in South Africa and works out to a difference of just over 30% between 2016 and 2025.

DStv has implemented more regular price hikes than Netflix, typically every April in South Africa. Its latest hike took the price of the Premium plan to R979.

Since 2016, DStv Premium’s price has increased by R220, or just slightly less than 29%. In percentage terms, the price of Netflix’s top-end plan has increased more than DStv.

To both companies’ credit, the increases have been below the total 53.1% inflation over the same period.

The table below shows how the prices of DStv and Netflix’s top-end subscriptions have changed in South Africa since 2016.

Better deal for DStv cord-cutters

Netflix users in South Africa are still getting a far better deal than those in its home country and several other major markets.

Netflix Premium in the US currently costs $24.99 or about R449, nearly double the price of Premium in South Africa.

The company has also retained its R99 price for the plan Basic since 2018. This option, or the cheaper R59 Mobile plan, is not even available in the US or Europe.

The most affordable option for subscribers in those markets is Standard with Ads, which is priced at $7.99 (R143).

DStv subscribers who have transitioned away from its satellite products to its streaming-only offering are paying just slightly more than they did a year ago.

MultiChoice introduced its streaming-only DStv plans in 2020. Initially, these were priced identically to its satellite plans.  

However, it reduced the pricing when rebranding its streaming service to DStv Stream in 2022. Since then, a DStv Premium streaming-only package has cost R799 for month-to-month subscribers.

These packages were also excluded from DStv’s price adjustments in 2023, 2024, and 2025.

Subscribers who switched from DStv satellite to streaming are only paying R40 more than they did in 2016. That works out to an effective price increase of 5.3% over 10 years.

Households opting for the annual Premium streaming-only contract at R699 per month could also get Netflix Premium and pay R928 per month for both, R51 less than a DStv Premium satellite subscription.