Where Will Video Streaming Services Cost You the Most?
We've seen a lot of data about the uptake of video streaming services around the world, but a key element has been missing: price comparisons across countries. A recent study from VPNpro sheds some light on the pricing differences for video streaming, music streaming, and digital games, and while the amount of data is massive, a few key items bubble to the top.
Before we take a look at some of those highlights, here's the methodology. VPNpro selected top providers in each category—Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Twitch Prime, and YouTube Premium for video; Spotify and Apple Music for music; and Steam, Nintendo, Xbox, and PlayStation for video games—and then compared prices in various countries around the world. The company than converted local currencies to U.S. dollars, based on June 5, 2020 exchange rates.
The report also considered GDP per capita when ranking countries from cheapest to most expensive.
Overall, the cheapest countries for online entertainment are Brazil, Argentina, India, Turkey, and South Africa, while the most expensive are Switzerland, Denmark, Germany and Austria (tied), France and Ireland (tied), and Finland.
Breaking the numbers down a bit further, Netflix is the most expensive in Switzerland at $12.42 per month, followed by Denmark at $11.98, Sweden at $9.69, and Norway at $9.57. It's cheapest in Brazil ($4.29), Colombia ($4.70), and South Africa ($5.88).
Amazon Prime Video is priciest in the United States ($12.99), followed by Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, all at $9.05. At the low end are India ($1.71), Brazil ($2.92), and Argentina ($3.18).
Twitch Prime will cost you $12.99 a month in the U.S., followed by $10.11 in the UK and $9.05 in Austria and Germany. But in Brazil it will only cost $1.94, in Singapore it will cost $2.15, and in the Netherlands it will cost $3.39.
The most expensive service is YouTube Premium, which runs $18.05 in Denmark, $16.59 in Switzerland, and $15.17 in the UK. In India, it costs $1.71, while in Argentina it costs $1.73 and in Turkey it runs $2.51.
But as VPNpro points out, services don't offer the same content in each country. Netflix costs $9.05 in Bolivia but $7.26 in Japan, despite the fact that Bolivia is a much less wealthy country and Netflix's offering there is much smaller.
On the music streaming side, Apple Music costs the most in Denmark ($15.01), followed by Switzerland ($13.46) and the UK ($12.64). The cheapest countries for Apple Music are India ($1.31), China ($1.41), and Turkey ($2.07).
The top three for Spotify are similar—$15.01 in Denmark, $13.51 in Switzerland and Lichtenstein, and $12.64 in the UK. On the cheap end, Spotify costs $1.58 in India, $2.02 in Argentina, and $2.59 in the Philippines.
The complete data can be found at VPNpro.