7 Essential Steps to Set the Right Price for Your Video Membership Site

Learn how to price your video membership site with our 7 vital steps. Unlock strategies to boost revenue and engage your potential subscribers effectively.

As of 2025, Netflix has gained over 301.6 million worldwide customers, while Amazon Prime has more than 250 million global memberships. These subscriber counts of video streaming businesses aren’t just a number; they reflect people's trust and love as these sites offer exclusive content for which users willingly pay a specified fee in exchange.

But, setting a membership price isn’t that easy. You might lose your valued members if you overcharge them or your business can suffer if you charge less. Hence, you need to find a balance between charging them a reasonable price and covering your business's operational costs.

In this blog, we will go over the key steps to determine how much to price for your video membership site.

Let’s dive in.

What is a Video Membership Site?

A video membership site is that website or platform where you host your videos just for your members, who pay a certain amount – a monthly or annual fee – to access them. With a video membership site, you can build your own online community, wherein your subscribers can interact with like-minded people and establish strong connections over time. 

Suppose, you are planning to build a membership site where you can teach and provide resources on topics that interest your target audience (in this case, students). When students enroll in your courses, you automatically create a community where they can easily start discussing topics relating to their studies.

Why Does Membership Matter For Your Video Website?

Membership leads to higher audience engagement, increased member retention and revenue generation. When you have a steady income flow, it assures you that people want to see more of your content. This way you can expand your business efficiently, provide your subscribers with more exclusive videos, while attracting potential customers.

Besides your recurring monetization, here are other reasons why membership is important:

1. Connect with your members

You can interact with your members on your community forum, ask for feedback and create videos catering to their requirements. This makes them feel important and 'heard', which increases their willingness to devote their time on your site.

2. Establish a loyal fanbase

Membership websites provide exclusive content that isn't available elsewhere. This in turn encourages members to return for more.

3. Control how you share content

You don't need to be concerned about your content being removed. You are in charge of deciding how you distribute your videos and who can watch them.

Membership Pricing Model: What Does It Mean?

A membership pricing model sets the fees for your on-demand video (if needed, we can link it to the VOD long-form blog) content. This payment structure specifies how much users will pay and how often they will be charged. There are various kinds of membership models, each providing subscribers with specific benefits.

Different Membership Pricing Models To Choose From

Before deciding on a membership price, you must first understand the many pricing models that are available. Here are a few common options: 

One-Time Fee: Your members pay only once and they get lifetime access to your videos.

Recurring Subscription Fee: This is the most common membership pricing model, allowing members to pay monthly or annually.

Group Membership: This pricing model is created primarily for teams of SaaS companies and project management software. You can also specify how many team members to include in this membership.

Tiered Pricing: This pricing model has different levels of membership with different benefits. Plus, users can upgrade if they feel like it.

Freemium Pricing: Freemium pricing, in which users can select between free and premium plans, is another preferred pricing structure.

Custom Pricing: When you have a diverse consumer with varying preferences, you use this model. You have to customize the membership based on their specific needs and budget.

“Pay As You Go” or Usage-based Pricing: The fee that members must pay depends on how much content or services they use.

Membership Site Pricing Strategy

You must have had a clear idea on the type you would probably select from these pricing models. Now it's time to consider how much you'll charge. We will lead you through the stages that will help you determine how much your members will pay, resulting in a win-win situation for both your members and your earnings.

1. Check Your Finances First

Before you even start building your membership site, you need to think about the total costs (an approximation) you would require to run your overall business. Because, when you run a video business, you will need money for covering your office space rent, paying your team, video production, website hosting, advertising expenses, and everything in between. When you are clear on how much everything would cost, you’ll find it easy to set a price for your members. It is advisable that you go with an amount that your people can afford.

2. Identify Your Unique Selling Points (USPs)

What defines you best? What makes you stand out from your competitors? What are the additional benefits you will be providing to your potential members that your competitors cannot? List down all your unique selling points (USPs) in a notebook and start answering them. Your USPs should justify your pricing. And it’s okay if your price is slightly higher than your competition.

But keep in mind that it only takes a few seconds to change your potential members’ decision to move to some other site. Therefore, it is crucial to actually showcase your uniqueness to them. Only then it will make sense to charge more than your competitors when you provide some special services to your potential members.

3. Determine your Target Audience 

Once you have your USPs ready, you can start defining your target audience. Find out what age group they belong to and what their usual purchasing habits look like. You also need to consider whether they are familiar with the pricing model you are planning to incorporate.

And how do you get all this information? By simply creating a buyer persona. When your buyer persona is ready, you’ll have a fair idea of their budget and how much they are willing to pay.

Plus, you need to see how sensitive they are if you plan to increase your price later. Because even if they are fine with the price increase, do not charge beyond anyone’s capability as this might lead to churning.

4. Analyze Your Competitors

Study your competition thoroughly. When making a purchase, consumers always consider which membership plan will be most beneficial to them. When visitors feel your membership site and your competitor offer the same features and benefits but you charge more, they are more likely to go with the other subscription. 

5. Define Your Value Tiers

People always look for a lower-cost plan that comes with numerous offerings. Hence, including sub-levels of pricing (tiered pricing) in your membership pricing model strategy is essential.

Say, you have chosen the subscription-based pricing model. Under this category, you can segregate sub-plans, such as Basic (for startups), Pro (for mid-size companies), and Enterprise (for larger organizations). Based on these plans, you provide your content along with the benefits as per your users’ needs and preferences.

This way you can have variations in your pricing – low to high – and your visitors will come to know that they have the flexibility to choose from any one of the sub-plans. This subsequently converts visitors into your customers.

6. Adjust Your Fee

As your business expands, you must adjust your fees. But first, keep track of the performance metrics, like customer churn or retention rates. Churn rate is the percentage of customers who cancel their subscriptions within a specified period of time. On the other hand, the percentage of people who continue to use your streaming service over time is known as customer retention rate.

Increase your fees when you see new members signing up. Make sure to not charge people beyond their expectations.

7. Test and Refine Your Pricing

It's okay if your initial pricing isn't perfect and you don't get the number of members you expected. Fortunately, you can use A/B testing to get things on the right track. This method helps you find the price that will boost your revenue and provide the best value to your members.

The key is to find the right balance between your free content and the videos you place behind the subscription paywall (a system that restricts people from accessing videos without a subscription).

While it might seem smart to put your most popular videos behind the paywall, this could cause loyal viewers to leave. So, use A/B tests to discover which free videos best encourage new sign-ups without causing existing members to cancel subscription. This approach will help you retain your current subscribers as well as increase the number of new ones. 

It is recommended to run these tests for about a month to get clear results without overusing time and resources. Take for example, you could test putting different types of videos on your free page to see which ones convince more people to subscribe. One week, you might offer an exclusive video for free. Next week, you might offer a different type of video. By tracking which one leads to more sign-ups and doesn't cause members to leave, you can figure out what works best for your business.

Summing Up

The price you set for your video membership site is a fundamental component of your business's success. It must be carefully assessed to reflect the true value of your content, cover your operational costs, and align with the expectations of your target audience. By taking these steps into consideration, you can establish a pricing strategy that is both profitable and sustainable.

FAQ

Q: What are the key factors to consider when pricing my video membership site?

When pricing your video membership site, consider factors such as your operational costs, the value of exclusive content, competitor pricing, and your target audience's willingness to pay. Striking a balance is crucial to retaining members and ensuring business sustainability.

Q: What role does competitor pricing play in determining my membership price?

Competitor pricing helps you understand the market landscape. By analyzing what similar sites charge, you can position your own pricing competitively while ensuring your content and services offer distinct value that justifies your price point.

Q: Should I offer different membership tiers, and why?

Definitely. By offering different membership tiers you can cater to various audience segments. This allows you to provide options wherein you can accommodate varying budgets while maximizing revenue potential from members who seek premium content or additional benefits.

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