In Disney's quest to turn Disney+ profitable, the company announced another round of price hikes for the streaming service. Beginning October 12, the ad-free subscription to Disney+ will increase to $13.99 per month — a 27% increase from its current price of $10.99. The price of Disney+ with ads will remain the same at $7.99 per month.
Disney+ won't be the only Disney service seeing a price increase. Hulu's ad-free subscription is also getting a 20% increase and will now cost $17.99 per month. Similarly, the ad-supported subscription will remain as is at $7.99 per month or $79.99 annually.
Disney is also adding a new bundle option. The Duo Premium bundle will include Disney+ and Hulu — both ad-free — for $19.99. The rollout of this new bundle coincides with Disney's plans to later combine Hulu and Disney+ content into a single streaming app. The "one-app experience", featuring access to content from subscription services, is scheduled to launch later this month. And $10 for each service definitely sounds a lot more attractive than their individual price.
Here's what the new prices will look like for each of Disney's different subscription services — Disney+, Hulu, and Disney+ — when the price hikes become effective on October 12, 2023:
Disney+
- With Ads (No Price Change): $7.99/month
- No Ads: $13.99/month (139.99/year)
Hulu
- With Ads (No Price Change): $7.99/month ($79.99/year)
- No Ads: $17.99/month
- Disney+ (With Ads) Add-On (No Change): $2.00/month
- ESPN+ on Hulu Ad-On: $10.99
Although Disney CEO Bob Iger noted that they didn't see a significant loss of subscribers as a result of last year's price hike, another $3 increase — which brings the price of Disney+ more in line with competitors like Netflix and Max — could be the turning point for many.
Iger also acknowledged that with these price increases, the company is hoping to steer users toward its ad-supported plans. Disney reported that 3.3 million subscribers signed up for the ad-supported service since it launched in the United States in December, with about 40% of new Disney+ subscribers signing up for the ad tier.
Disney is hoping this combination of price increases plus other cost-cutting measures (such as removing certain content as a write-off) will help turn Disney+ profitable. For the latest quarter, Disney reported streaming losses of $512 million, down from the $1.1 billion loss in the prior-year period.
Will you remain subscribed to Disney+ and/or Hulu following this latest round of price hikes?
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