Product10 publishers3 min readPublished
Disney now charges $9 a month to take the ads out of Disney+, up from $7
Disney's ad-supported tiers moved 50 cents or not at all while the ad-free ones moved $2.00 to $2.50, so four of its five ad-free plans now sit exactly nine dollars above their ad-supported twin. Disney says its most popular bundle is unchanged.
The Product Desk · Product desk
What happened
- Ad-free Disney+ and Hulu each rise $2.50 to $21.49 a month for new subscribers from Wednesday, while the ad-supported versions of both go up 50 cents to $12.49.
- Disney told TechRadar that Bloomberg's report was factual, and said it had raised standalone ad-supported plans by just 4% while holding its most popular bundle unchanged.
- Bloomberg counted this as Disney's sixth increase in six years, while CNET called it the fourth in four years, landing exactly a year after the previous rise.
Compiled by The Product DeskSomething wrong?How this is made
Why it matters
- cost Subscribers who refuse ads absorb almost all of this round: the premium for going ad-free on Disney+ or Hulu went from $7.00 a month to $9.00, a 29% rise in the only thing that extra money buys.
- decision At 50 cents above a single ad-free plan, the two-service ad-free bundle leaves a household no reason to buy standalone premium.
- contradiction Disney's defence cites 13% as this year's average competitor increase. Its own ad-free standalone plans went up 13.2%. That makes the comparison harder to use next year.
- precedent Holding the entry tier while the premium tier climbs gives Disney the same announcement to make again, with the ad-free upgrade carrying the increase each time.
Line up each ad-supported plan against its ad-free twin and the same number comes out four times. Disney+ standalone: $12.49 with ads, $21.49 without [4][3]. Hulu standalone is priced identically [3][4]. The Disney+ and Hulu bundle: $12.99 with ads, $21.99 without [5][6]. The Disney+, Hulu and ESPN Unlimited bundle, both tiers frozen: $35.99 and $44.99 [8]. Nine dollars each time [11]. The only pair that misses is the ESPN Select bundle, at $21.99 with ads and $32.99 without, eleven dollars apart [7][4].
Before this round the Disney+ and Hulu gaps were seven dollars. The standalone plans ran $11.99 and $18.99 [5]; the bundle ran $12.99 and $19.99 [6]. The ad-supported side moved fifty cents or nothing, the ad-free side two dollars to two-fifty, and the fee for removing ads went up 29% [7]. The increase on the ad-free standalone plans works out at 13.2% [8].
A Disney spokesperson told TechRadar: "While competitors have raised prices by an average of 13% this year, we are keeping the price of our most popular bundle unchanged and have increased our standalone ad-supported offerings by just 4%" [10]. Both halves check out. Fifty cents on $11.99 is 4.2% [9], and the ad-supported bundle is flat [5]. The 13% Disney assigns to its competitors is also, to a tenth of a point, what its own ad-free standalone plans just did [8]. Disney confirmed to TechRadar that Bloomberg's report was factual [9]. The Los Angeles Times said Disney did not respond immediately to its request for comment [20].
TechRadar's write-up put the 13% on the ad-free Hulu-Disney+ bundle, but its own price table and the Los Angeles Times both attach $21.49 and the $2.50 rise to the standalone premium plans [23][3]. The ad-free bundle went to $21.99 [6].
That $21.99 is fifty cents above a single premium subscription, as the Los Angeles Times pointed out [6]. A household already paying $21.49 for ad-free Hulu can add ad-free Disney+ for fifty cents a month. At that gap the bundle beats standalone premium. Disney+ launched in 2019 at $6.99 a month [19].
The count is disputed. Bloomberg, as reported by TechRadar, called this the sixth increase in six years [2]; CNET called it the fourth in four years for both services, landing exactly a year after the last one [14]. The tech analyst Paolo Pescatore told CNET that "Like Netflix, Disney has some leeway to raise prices given the breadth of its offering and the strength of its brands," and added: "But consumers are becoming more selective, further increasing risk and encouraging more people to dip in and out rather than remain permanently subscribed" [15][16].
For anyone pricing a two-tier product, the number a user feels is the difference between the tiers. Disney's own table shows which side moved: the ad-supported prices held or crept, and the ad-free ones carried the rest. When the cheap tier holds and the premium tier climbs, the entry price is an anchor and the upgrade is the thing being repriced. All three plans Disney froze belong to pairs that now sit nine dollars apart [5][8][2][3].
What to watch
- Whether UK and European prices follow within weeks, after Disney+ UK said it had nothing to share on that pricing and Australia was raised in April.
- The promised single app combining Disney+ and Hulu later this year, and how the tier names and gaps survive the merge.
- Whether existing subscribers are billed the new rate on their next statement, as the Los Angeles Times and CNET reported, or from October 21 as Android Police reported.