Upcoming Fall: Specific Subscriptions on Disney Plus to Experience Price Increase

Posted on by Lucas Wilson

Disney Plus has announced a price increase for its ad-free subscription plan, which will go into effect on October 12th. The monthly cost will rise from $10.99 to $13.99, as reported by CNBC. However, the price for Disney Plus with ads will remain the same at $7.99 per month. Additionally, Hulu, which is owned by Disney, will also experience a price hike. The ad-free plan for Hulu will increase to a staggering $17.99 per month, while the plan with ads will stay at $7.99. This decision was initially mentioned by Disney CEO Bob Iger during the company’s Q2 earnings call in May, where he expressed the intention to create a wider difference in price between the ad-free and ad-supported plans. It was recently revealed that Disney Plus and Hulu will offer a bundled subscription plan with no ads for $19.99 per month, according to Variety. Despite previous price adjustments, Disney Plus has maintained a strong subscriber base. Iger stated in May that the price increase aims to reflect the value of their content offerings and does not anticipate significant churn due to the increase. However, Disney Plus faced challenges in India, where it lost the rights to Indian Premier League cricket matches, resulting in a decline of approximately 11.7 million subscribers worldwide during the quarter, as noted by The New York Times. Furthermore, Disney’s streaming business is still relatively young compared to competitors like Netflix. Iger acknowledged this fact, explaining that they have not yet achieved the desired balance in terms of cost savings, pricing, marketing, and technological improvements to enhance customer engagement. Disney’s move to combine more content under one app aligns with the strategy of Warner Bros. Discovery, who recently announced the launch of their combined app, Max. In terms of future changes, Iger hinted at the possibility of implementing password-sharing policies, similar to Netflix’s, as the company actively explores ways to address account sharing.