Cord-cutting in favor of streaming subscriptions is getting more and more expensive, as made evident by Disney’s latest move. The conglomerate announced last Wednesday during its quarterly earnings call that massive price hikes are coming for both Disney+ and Hulu premium plans, marking the second such price hike for Disney+ in less than a year.
Beginning on Oct. 12, Disney+ Premium (the ad-free plan) will rise 27%, jumping from $10.99 to $13.99 per month for U.S. subscribers. The annual plan will also reflect the price hike, rising to $139.99 per year. Hulu’s ad-free tier will jump 20%, from $14.99 to $17.99 per month. The monthly prices of both of Hulu’s Hulu + Live TV packages will also increase by $7 per month, with the ad-supported plan rising to $76.99 and the ad-free plan jumping to $89.99. Meanwhile, ESPN+ pricing will increase from $9.99 to $10.99 per month. The standalone Disney+ with ads and Hulu with ads subscription tiers will remain at $7.99 per month, and the bundle of the two still cost $9.99 per month. Disney will also introduce a new premium bundle of ad-free Disney+ and Hulu for $19.99 per month.
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“Our pricing strategy this year alone, we’ve raised prices in nearly 50 countries around the world to better reflect the value of our product offerings and the impact on churn and retention has outperformed our expectations,” CEO Bob Iger said Wednesday, per Comicbook.com. “Later today, we will release details regarding upcoming streaming price increases … Maintaining access to our content for as broad an audience as possible is top of mind for us. Which is why pricing for our standalone ad-supported Disney plus and Hulu offerings will remain unchanged.”
The price hikes will be just the latest to impact streamers’ wallets. The Wednesday announcement comes a month after Netflix axed its low-cost, ad-free plan for new U.S. customers. The company, which introduced price hikes at the beginning of the year, now offers three subscription plans – the basic with ads plan ($7 per month), the standard plan ($15.50 per month), and the premium plan ($20 per month). NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming platform in July raised the price of its premium plan from $4.99 to $5.99 per month and the ad-free plan from $9.99 per month to $11.99. The rebranded HBO Max with Discovery+, Max, recently increased the price of its ad-free tier from $14.99 to $15.99, with Paramount+ jumping from $9.99 to $11.99 per month.
The price hike at Disney+ and Hulu came amid a string of other announcements Wednesday. Iger also announced that Disney will expand its ad-supported Disney+ tier, which now has 3.3 million subscribers, to Canada, the U.K., France, Germany, Sweden, Italy, and other countries in Europe on Nov. 1. The subscription tier will start at £4.99/€5.99 per month in Europe, and $7.99/month in Canada. Iger also shared the company will begin cracking down on Disney+ password sharing.
