“What we typically see when we've done price increases in the past is that they usually impact subscriber acquisition way more than subscriber retention — if you execute well you won't see much churn from your existing subscriber base but you will see a little pressure on new subscriber acquisition.”

Price Increases Hit New Subscriber Acquisition Far More Than Existing Retention

Across Hulu, Crunchyroll, and HBO Max, Reid DeRamus observed a consistent pattern: well-executed price hikes produce minimal churn among existing subscribers but cause a visible step-function drop in new subscriber adds. The implication for small apps is that the short-term revenue hit of raising prices is mostly a slowdown in growth velocity, not a wave of cancellations — a far more manageable trade-off than most operators fear.