[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] It has been revealed that global subscription service prices such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, and YouTube Premium are cheaper in Japan than in Korea. Due to prolonged deflation forcing companies to consider consumers' purchasing power when pricing, combined with the impact of the yen's depreciation, Japan had the lowest subscription fees among the Group of Seven (G7) countries.
According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun on the 6th, a comparison of average subscription fees among 17 countries out of the Group of Twenty (G20), excluding some like Russia and China, showed that Japan ranked 9th overall with an average of 937 yen (converted at the exchange rate on August 25). The subscription items included six services: Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney Plus, YouTube Premium, Spotify, and Apple Music. The prices were calculated based on subscribing to the cheapest paid service for one month.
According to this, the country with the highest subscription fee was the United Kingdom (1,507 yen), followed by the United States (1,479 yen) and Germany (1,319 yen). The country with the lowest subscription fee was Turkey, recording 174 yen, which was about one-ninth of the UK's fee. Korea was ranked 8th with 978 yen, one step above Japan. Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported, "Japan's subscription fees were cheaper than those of Korea and Italy, whose per capita GDP is lower than Japan's."
The reasons behind Japan's subscription fees ranking lowest among G7 countries include prolonged deflation, the weak yen phenomenon, and differences in competitive environments. Tsuneo Fujiwara, an analyst at market research firm Gartner, pointed out, "Besides service supply and demand, companies are clearly setting pricing strategies based on each nation's payment capacity," adding, "In Japan, where wages have stagnated for a long time, companies likely judge that users would find it difficult to endure price increases."
Japan had the lowest subscription fees among G7 countries for all six services. In particular, Amazon Prime was priced at 500 yen per month, which was even lower than Indonesia, Mexico, and South Africa, ranking fifth cheapest among the 17 countries. Although Amazon raised its fee from 400 yen per month in 2019, considering that the U.S. increased its monthly subscription fee to $14.99 in February this year, which converts to over 2,000 yen, the subscription fee in Japan still appears significantly cheaper.
Netflix subscription fees in Japan were raised from 880 yen to 990 yen last year but remained only about 70% of the U.S. price. For premium services, the U.S. has raised fees twice in the past two years, pushing subscription fees to the 2,700 yen range, whereas Japan's fee is still only 1,980 yen, according to Nihon Keizai Shimbun. Saudi Arabia's Netflix subscription fee also exceeds Japan's at 1,163 yen.
Nihon Keizai Shimbun stated, "Since this leads to reduced profits for overseas companies, there is a possibility of price increases for each service within Japan in the future." Regarding this, analyst Fujiwara forecasted, "Although subscription fees will inevitably be affected by the weak yen and inflation in the future, the situation of being cheaper compared to other countries is unlikely to change significantly."
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