Disney+ With Ads Sets Launch Date, Price Hiked on Regular Tier — Hulu and Bundle Rates Also Increasing
Disney on Wednesday revealed a launch date (and pricing) for Disney+’s new ad tier, along with price hikes for Hulu and the Disney Bundle.
Disney+ Basic (ad tier) will launch Thursday, Dec. 8 in the U.S. for $7.99/month and feature about four minutes of ads per hour. The ad tier will feature all the same content that is currently available without ads — though select titles may continue to run without ads, no matter the tier.
Upon the launch of the Basic tier, the ad-free version of Disney+ will be known as Disney+ Premium, and see a 38-percent price hike to $10.99/month. (Sign up now to lock in current rate)
In addition, Disney is raising the price of Hulu. Beginning Monday, Oct. 10, Hulu with ads will raise from $6.99 to $7.99/month, while the ad-free option will go from $12.99 to $14.99/month.
As to be expected, the cost of the Disney Bundle is also going up. The bundle, which consists of Hulu with ads, Disney+ with no ads and ESPN+, will go from $13.99 to $14.99/month. A premium version, which includes an ad-free Hulu experience, will remain at $19.99/month.
All told, the new pricing looks like this:
STANDALONE PLANS
Disney+ Basic (with ads): $7.99/month; no annual option
Disney + Premium (no ads): $10.99/month; $109.99/year
Hulu Basic (with ads): $7.99/month; $79.99/year
Hulu Premium (no ads): $14.99/month; no annual option
ESPN+: $9.99 per month; $99.99 annually
BUNDLE PLANS
Basic: Disney+ (with ads) & Hulu (with ads) — $9.99/month
Basic: Disney+ (with ads), Hulu (with ads) & ESPN+ (with ads) — $12.99/month
Legacy*: Disney+ (no ads), Hulu (with ads) & ESPN+ (with ads) — $14.99/month
Premium: Disney+ (no ads), Hulu (no ads) & ESPN+ (with ads) — $19.99/month
HULU + LIVE TV (Sign Up / Upgrade Here)
Basic: Includes Hulu (with ads), Disney+ (with ads) & ESPN+ (with ads) — $69.99/month
Legacy*: Includes Hulu (with ads), Disney+ (no ads) & ESPN+ (with ads) — $74.99/month
Premium: Includes Hulu (no ads), Disney+ (no ads) & ESPN+ (with ads) — $82.99/month
* Legacy plans are offered to existing subscribers only
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Yikes
Or one could unsubscribe until a holiday period get the service for a month or so a year and watch regular tv with adds for free.
I have a feeling they will cut back on the heavy discounts. I hope not because I have Hulu 99 cents a month, Disney $2.99, Paramount+ and Discovery+ little over 4 dollars each and Netflix and 15 or 16. Twenty eight bucks for 5 services isn’t bad.
So as long as you renew before Dec. 8th, you’ll be able to save $30 at the current price.
For anyone who took advantage of the 3-year subscription, we automatically renew in November so that should be some comfort.
We will not renew at the 3 yr rate again. We will be beholden to whatever rates are available at renewal. Thankfully, renewal beats the Dec price hike.
Geez man, how can streamers justify this? We’re in a recession and a lot of people can’t afford even little increases each month! Have some compassion for folks who are hurting out there. They’re gonna lose subscribers…but I know they don’t care, all they care about is $$$ SMH 😡
Why? Streaming is not a necessity. People who are really hurting probably already cut out on streaming.
Talk about first world problems. “It’s getting hard to afford my streaming programming of 1 new show a month to play on my 60” HD TV or $1000 cell phone.” People starving around the world cry for us missing out on “She-Hulk” and “Andor.”
The thing about tv is that you actually have to generate expectation for new viewers to engage in new content. Losing subscribers is not going to engage any new audiences, but rather lose the ones they already had before their programming could actually create any expectation.
So Hulu is losing all of it’s NBC programming and raising it’s rates $2 a month for what’s left, lol. Sounds like a great deal to me.
When is that happening? Not that it matters because I have Peacock but I don’t really watch NBC current shows there LOL
For the new Fall Season onward. So now everyone will be be on their company permed platform. CBS on Paramount. NBC on Peacock. ABC and Fox on Hulu. I hardly watch anything left Network but the days of seeing most shows on Hulu or movies/cable On Netflix are mostly over.
We are Hulu Live + Disney+ and, considering our price isn’t changing, I think it’s still a good deal for all of the content. I don’t pay for peacock because I can record all of my Bravo shows/watch them live. We get The Office on demand because it reruns on several channels. Turns out “cable” is the best deal, oops.
Maybe depending on what you watch. For me I’m still saving about $100/month with no cable so streaming is still the better option by a long shot. Plus if you’re a savvy shopper you can find a lot of streaming app promos to take advantage of which save you money also.
Guys I think we are going full circle and just go back to regular TV and/or cable. At this point streaming services see each pulling away their contents to their own personal ones (as their right) which results in the need for multiple services which is getting even more expensive.
You have to be flexible on how you watch TV. For me, I rarely watch my regular shows once a week anymore. I wait until most if not all episodes are done and then get the app and stream them all at once. That cuts back on having to have all the apps at one time, plus gives you stuff to watch during down times like summer and holidays. Works for me anyway.
I’ve had Hulu without ads for awhile and then signed up with Disney+ separately. Is there someway to bundle them together as is or do I need to unsubscribe to Hulu and then bundle with Disney+? It looks like it would save me money.
Not 100% positive but you might just look at your account online and see if it has that bundle option. Since this was just announced today it might not be loaded yet. If not email customer support.
I know that your account settings on Hulu where you pick your plan allows u to bundle from there.
I don’t know though if you have to take the step of cancelling the individual D+ sub. I expect that you do.
It’s a bit of a mess, at least the last time I did it. You should be able to login to Disney and make the changes, and you’ll see them reflected on Hulu though. Just be sure to check after the changes are made. It can take a day to reflect the change, but if it’s not there then, cancel on the Hulu side.
Yes I recently did this and it’s saved me some money.
Yes. that is my current thing: Hulu no ads bundled with Disney. It was pretty cheap to get Disney as an add-on that way,
You can log into hulu account an add disney+
These streamers. Taking folks to the cleaners.
no one HAS TO sign up for these services
if some people can’t afford it .. than they probably have other things to worry about besides what to watch on tv
I wonder if there will be incentives/special rates for the 3 year deal founders circle members? I assume something will be announced on disney+ day
founders circle members ?? wtf ?
these aren’t “clubs” – it’s just subscription tv
and the customers are not “founders” of anything
Money talks and you know what walks. Ugh.
When Netflix raised their rates, I made up for it by suspending my account for a couple of months. I didn’t feel I missed anything, and I doubt most people would with these services either. (The possible exception being families with young kids who watch Disney movies on repeat.)
I knew it. They just put ads on the regular Disney+ and created a new tier. It was never about being more accessible. It was about greed.
Well that’s Bob Chapek for you.
Yep. The most ridiculous thing was they said they wanted more subscribers. People aren’t subscribing at that rate now without customers. They’re certainly not going to start when they add commercials to it. And they’re going to lose some through the price increase. Yet another in a long line of stupid moves from the Disney president.
how is it a stupid move? it’s an eventuality for all the streaming sites (and probably all premium cable channels as well eventually)
and they don’t care if they lose subscribers in the short term – all that matters is the long game and every day/ every month/ every year are new people who will say: oh I’ll sign up and try out Streaming Service XYZ
it’s all just a numbers game and they’re evolving the product and see what works and what doesn’t same as any other service or product when prices increase
did you expect them to just keep the same prices indefinitely forever ?? or to NOT try adding tiers with and without ads ?
Yes. It’s not “evolution” to put ads on. I expect to never have ads on *paid* content. I don’t pay for ads. Never have. Never will. Disney+ isn’t as good as they think they are. They air, what, a couple of shows a month? 10h of new content per month? I will not renew once my year is through. Mch like when Michael Eisner did, Chapek will run Disney to the ground again.
The movies suck now, so they have to make money some how. Thats why I got rid of disney+ long ago.
It’s one thing to have low introductory prices (and get viewers hooked on your content) before the inevitable price hike and another thing to raise your prices every year, which streaming services seem to be doing.
Disney wants $11 a month for like 3 originals a month? That’s wild!
They release like 10 series, with 6 episodes each, a year.
I was being generous by counting movies as well, but yea it definitely feels that way.
And the catalog content. It’s a library, not a newsstand.
I suppose, but I’m only streaming for original content. All old content I’ve either already seen, own, or don’t want to watch.
Is this supposed to be per year as opposed to month?
HULU + LIVE TV (Sign Up / Upgrade Here)
Basic: Includes Hulu (with ads), Disney+ (with ads) & ESPN+ (with ads) — $69.99/month
Legacy*: Includes Hulu (with ads), Disney+ (no ads) & ESPN+ (with ads) — $74.99/month
Premium: Includes Hulu (no ads), Disney+ (no ads) & ESPN+ (with ads) — $82.99/month
Nope. This includes Live TV.
I want Disney + (no ads) and Hulu (no ads) as a package without ESPN!
This.
I have never watched more than 2 minutes of ESPN total in my entire life.
Sadly the bundle is for ESPN+ and not ESPN, which is worth a lot less.
In fact, not getting ESPN+ today would only save about $4/year.
I have this! I had Hulu no ads and then got offered 2.99 a month for Disney plus through hulu
I have had Hulu for many years and now am on a yearly, not by month deal of $69.99. In July I added Disney+ for $2.99 per month. Very curious as to what I will be paying under the new setup.
The great thing about streaming vs cable is no contracts. When the cost per month is more than you believe the product is worth, it’s easy to cancel.
BINGO !!
heck most people should probably do this anyways
just rotating services every month or every few months and watch whatever they want one month at a time on each site
vs feeling the need (and expense) of having 3 – 5 streaming services all at the same time
If I can switch to Legacy bundle when my 3 years with Disney+ runs out, that should be a decent deal for me.
Last Black Friday Hulu had the 99 cents per month for a year – I wonder if they will do that again or if Disney plus will offer something similar too.
Never enough money for these guys, huh? You can’t tell me they’re not already making a ton of money off of customers! Thanks, Disney & Hulu!
Disney’s direct-to-consumer segment, which includes Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+, lost $1 billion in Q2. –Mgmt.
Raising hulu no ads price by 2 dollars and loosing all of the NBC programming is ridiculous.
according to indiewire Hulu makes money so all those losses must be coming from the other 2. we did know due to their own admission D+ was going to lose money for the foreseeable future.
It’s not our fault they overpay for sports. They should put that burden on ESPN subscribers, not all subscribers.
So don’t pay for the bundle?
They are losing money because of several multi-billion deals for sports rights. This cost is being passing to everyone, even people who do not watch ESPN. Disney+ itself brings in a lot more than they spend creating a couple of 40 minute episodes a week.
“Disney’s revenue for the quarter took a $1.02 billion hit “for the amount due to a customer to early-terminate license agreements for film and television content” delivered in previous years so that it could use the content “primarily on our direct-to-consumer services,” the company said (without identifying the customer). That could be a reference to Disney’s former licensing deal with Netflix.” -Variety
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At least a billion dollars of their losses had nothing to do with ESPN. And they overpay because live sports is about the only thing left that you can get any ad revenue for. And even there, they’re cutting back.
Math: several billions minus one billion equals several billions. Disney+ generates US$ 956,080,000.00 per month in gross revenue. That’s US$ 11,472,960,000.00 a year. A billion off of that is still over ten billion a year. Meanwhile, ESPN has several sports deals worldwide in the 1-5 billion range. It’s a known fact got so expensive for everybody because they mitigated costs among everyone, even people without sports channels. They same seem to be going on here. Bob Chapek might be good generating cash short-term, but, like Michael Eisner before him, he is alienating costumers and tarnishing the brand. While having people pay to cut in line at the parks is making money, costumer satisfaction is taking a hit. Forcing ads on the basic plan instead of creating a lower-tiered plan is another way to make people mad.
Disney+ made $5.2 billion dollars in revenue in 2021, up from $2.6 billion. That’s revenue. Now do expenses.
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“Originally, Disney+ was projected to reach profitability in 2024 and, per today’s Walt Disney Company Q2 earnings call, that holds true. However, CEO Bob Chapek confirmed that, as the company approaches profitability for its streaming service, Disney fans can expect additional price increases.”
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And I’m pretty sure he doesn’t care about alienating cosplayers.
So there isn’t a no ad bundle of Hulu/Disney without ESPN? Hopefully there is a massive drop in subscribers so they reconsider the rates.
Funny… they announce ESPN will be losing the College 10 events and then say they are raising subscription prices. Great timing.
as others pointed out this will also be on the heels of Hulu losing all next-day NBC content in September.
Hmm,my next yearly billing date is 1/21/23 so I can’t get in again to pay before the price hike.I signed up for Disney + on 1/21/21(didn’t sign up before that because there wasn’t enough content in 2020 yet on the service that I was interested in) and paid $69.99 with tax.Year 2 I paid $84.79(with tax).For next year,with tax(I’m sticking with no ads),it will be $116.59.
Not thrilled about the price increase(but who would be).But since Disney + is the only streaming service I directly pay for(I get HBO Max at no extra cost with my HBO substruction) and I use it a lot,I guess I can deal.If I had a lot of streaming services,this would be a nightmare.But since I’m only paying for the one,it isn’t a killer.
how long has there been an ad-free (espn not withstanding) bundle? I only ever saw D+&ad-supported hulu bundles. I would say that the ad-free bundle is a good deal given you save money and get espn for free over their other pricing but I can’t justify either given the content offerings going forward.
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as much as I dislike netflix for all of the content I don’t watch and the price hikes they do at least (as a loss-leader) put out enough ‘N’ stuff +library content that there’s usually something there to watch.
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while hulu has been a mainstay they’re losing ~1/3 of the content I watch there and that’s on top of the fact that it’s already a fraction of once there once was given endless cancellations on network tv which is almost entirely what I use them for and have since before they offered an ad-free service. ABC’s second longest scripted comedy will be in like season2 coming this fall, right? and I haven’t had an interest in the Goldbergs since before “schooled” (which I liked) came and went. black-ish and mixed-ish which I loved were shuffled off when they felt they had adequate representation replacements, neither of which I thought were good. and fox cancels the comedies I enjoy be they “the mick” or “pivoting”. and man I haven’t had an interest in a hulu original since “difficult people”. which coincidentally might have been the only hulu original I did ever have an interest in.
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as an indiewire article pointed out yesterday hulu is already being treated like red-headed step-child with R-rated content making the jump to D+ in the US. also according to indiewire hulu is already a money maker. which means they’re either trying to help cover D+ losses or they’re just that greedy.
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while I’ve already canceled my sub to star-wars&MCU+ my longest-running and oldest sub, hulu+, will be imminently canceled as well. I cut the chord at least 18 years ago, long enough ago that I was a part of the class action lawsuit against netflix’s by-mail service and originally used a WD TV-live to access hulu and netflix. and just like with cable a giant chunk of an exorbitant cost going to stuff you don’t watch doesn’t make sense.
okay so I’ve been subscribed to hulu for over 7 years as apparently 2015’s when they began to offer ad-free.
I don’t understand why there isn’t an ad free bundle of Disney+ and Hulu without ESPN.