Netflix has raised the cost of some of its streaming plans in the wake of the biggest surge in subscriber numbers since COVID lockdowns in early 2020.

It said that users in the US, UK and France would be affected by higher charges while revealing that a crackdown on password sharing, that began in May, had failed to dent demand as some investors had feared.

Netflix said that almost nine million households signed up worldwide between July and September, taking its customer base to 247 million.

Four million of those net additions were in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Netflix – behind hits such as The Crown – said it expected global net subscriber growth around the same nine million figure in the current quarter, which includes Christmas.

It increased the price of its premium ad-free plan by £2 to 17.99 pounds in the UK.

The basic plan will now cost £7.99, with the ad-supported and standard plans remaining at their current levels.

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Shares rose by as much as 13% in after-hours trading despite revenues, of $8.54bn in the third quarter, slightly missing Wall St estimates.

Analysts said the numbers showed that Netflix was thriving despite Hollywood strikes that have shut down the bulk of productions in the US.

While film and television writers agreed a new contract this month, actors remain off work.

Sophie Lund-Yates, lead equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “The ad-supported tier is still very much in its infancy, and while a respectable whack of revenue’s being generated, the focus is very much on what the longer-term growth trajectory will be.

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“There have been rumblings that the ad business isn’t as hot as it could be so there’s pressure for performance to keep moving upwards.

“The market is increasingly preoccupied with where Netflix’s long-term growth drivers are coming from, with a limit to how far membership prices can be inflated in the current environment and the tailwind from the password crackdown due to taper out at pretty exceptional speed.”

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