During their Earnings Call today, Disney announced some changes to Disney+. The ad-supported version of Disney+ will launch on December 6th, 2022. Disney+ Basic will launch for $7.99 per month. The ad-free version of Disney+ will have its price increased to $10.99 per month and re-titled to Disney+ Premium.
They’re also raising rates for Hulu, with both ad-supported and ad-free versions getting the price hike. So if you want to keep the ad-free version of Disney+ that you currently pay $7.99 per month for, you’ll need to pay an extra $3 a month, a 38% increase. The ad-supported version of Disney+ might not run ads on certain titles.
Disney+ Basic will have about four minutes of ads per house. They’ll start with 15 and 30-second spots, but that will evolve over time. Disney+ ads will not have any political or alcohol ads. As for Hulu, the price goes from $6.99 to $7.99 with ads and the ad free tier goes from $12.99 to $14.99 a month. The Disney Bundle of Hulu, Disney+, and ESPN+ without ads will remain at $19.99 per month. ESPN+ rates will also go up from $6.99 to $9.99. So it looks like Disney is really pushing that bundle as the best value for your money if you like all three of those services.
These price increases seem like they’ll drive people to the ad-supported content more than anything or just to outright cancel some of their streaming services. We’ll have to see how it affects the Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ numbers.
For more on TV news, make sure to check back to That Hashtag Show.
