After Amazon Prime Video has already become more expensive, Disney+ has now also announced a price increase. Also, plans have changed for an ad-based subscription.
Disney+ has long been considered Netflix’s biggest competitor and the streaming service has now been able to impressively underline this with current figures. In the course of the generally rising prices on the market, Disney+ is also planning a price increase. It was known that the platform would also have an additional subscription model that would show advertising. However, Disney has now made its plans more concrete. The concept is therefore different – and above all more expensive – than originally announced.
Disney+ announces price increase
With prices soaring and inflation everywhere, it’s no surprise that Disney+ will also raise its prices. Previously, a subscription to the provider cost $7.99. In Germany, you even have to pay 8.99 euros a month or 89.90 euros a year. That should change in the future.
The cost of the previously known subscription has increased by a whopping 40 percent to $10.99. The annual subscription is then 109.99 US dollars. So far, this Disney+ price increase has only been confirmed for the USA and will apply from December 8, 2022. However, Europe is likely to follow at some point. Nothing is known about this yet; a price increase of 40 percent would result in 12.59 euros. The price in this country is probably between 11.99 euros and 12.99 euros per month.
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Advertising on Disney+ – but not for children
It was already known that an advertising-supported subscription would come to Disney+. The streaming service is thus taking a similar path to its long-term rival Netflix. Since the announcement in March 2022, however, plans have obviously changed somewhat. At that time it was still said that the new subscription would probably come in 2023 and cost less than the previous one. So it should be aimed at a target group that doesn’t mind advertising and wants to pay a lower price for it.
Now the advertising subscription is coming a little earlier than expected, namely together with the price increase at Disney + on December 8th. From then on, Disney+ differentiates between the Basic and Premium tariffs. Disney+ Basic then contains commercials between 15 and 30 seconds long. About four minutes of advertising are planned per hour. It is not yet known when exactly the clips will be shown. However, the concept of hourly allocation sounds like the fact that not only pre- and post-rolls are planned at the beginning and end of a video, but that an advertising break can also be expected during a film or series. That would certainly be the most disadvantageous option for subscribers. No advertising is planned for the kids accounts. However, only a very limited range can be seen there.
What at the announcement but what is particularly surprising is the price of the advertising-supported subscription. Disney+ plans to maintain the current price of $7.99 or €8.99 per month for this option. The price increase just explained affects everyone who does not want to see any advertising on Disney + in the future and therefore has to book the premium tariff. If you want to continue paying the usual price, you have to expect advertising in the future. The cheaper subscription with advertising is only valid for monthly payers. No such option is planned for the annual subscription. It is also not yet known when the changes will come to Germany.
Streaming service continues to grow
While Netflix had to record declining numbers among its subscribers for the first time in the first quarter of 2022, Disney+ is currently looking very good. The provider was able to gain a whopping 14.4 million new customers in the past quarter. If you add up all the streaming services belonging to Disney, the mouse group is now on a par with the market leader Netflix. The company not only owns Disney+, but also Hulu and ESPN Plus in the USA.
Disney+ now has 152 million (+31%) users worldwide, ESPN Plus has 23 million (+53%) and Hulu has 46 million (+8%) users. The main drivers at Disney+ were the recently launched in-house productions “Obi-wan Kenobi” and “Ms. Marvel”.
Incidentally, the growing number of subscriptions has also paid off financially for Disney+. The profit was last 1.4 billion US dollars. The Disney+ price increase and the future revenue generated from advertising should continue this trend.