The Mouse demands more cheese for Christmas. Emboldened by better than expected subscriber growth this past quarter and an industry increasingly moving toward ad-supported streaming, Disney officially rolled out its previously announced upcoming pricing plans for Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+, including the promised ad-supported tier for Disney+. Framed by Disney as a way to “deliver more choice and flexibility to consumers than ever before,” the new ad-supported Disney+ rate is actually the same price as the old one for the ad-free service. Its new ad-free pricing bumps the monthly cost up by nearly 40 percent, while Hulu’s new pricing raises that one by about 14 percent.
Here’s a full breakdown of the upcoming price changes for Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ with some annotations:
Standalone services
• Disney+ Basic (with ads): $7.99 per month (what Disney+ without ads currently costs); no annual subscription
• Disney+ Premium (no ads): $10.99 per month (a $3 markup from current ad-free prices); $109.99 per year
• Hulu Basic (with ads): $7.99 per month ($1 more than the current ad-supported price); $79.99 per year
• Hulu Premium (no ads): $14.99 per month ($2 more than the current price); no annual subscription
• ESPN+ (with ads): $9.99 per month ($3 more than the current price); $99.99 per year
• UFC PPV on ESPN+: $74.99 per event
• UFC PPV and ESPN+ Annual: $124.98 per year
Disney Bundle plans (monthly)
• Basic (with ads) — Disney+, Hulu: $9.99 (better than paying for both separately)
• Basic (with ads) — Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+: $12.99 ($1 lower than the current ad-free price)
• Legacy Subscribers — Disney+ (no ads), Hulu (with ads), ESPN+ (with ads): $14.99 ($1 higher than the current price)
• Premium — Disney+ (no ads), Hulu (no ads), ESPN+ (with ads): $19.99 (unchanged from the current price)
Hulu + Live TV plans (monthly)
• Basic (with ads) — Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+: $69.99
• Legacy Subscribers — Disney+ (no ads), Hulu (with ads), ESPN+ (with ads): $74.99
• Premium — Disney+ (no ads), Hulu (no ads), ESPN+ (with ads): $82.99
Hulu’s new pricing takes effect October 10, and the previously announced price hikes on ESPN+ kick in August 23. The new prices for Disney+ and the remaining bundles take effect December 8, just in time for the holidays. And note that the Legacy tiers only apply to existing subscribers.
Disney hasn’t set these prices arbitrarily. Its Premium tier on the Disney Bundle, unchanged at $19.99, is the same as Netflix’s identically named Premium tier. It also just reported 221.1 million global subscribers combined among its three streaming businesses, beating the 220.67 million Netflix has around the world. Both are racing to launch ad-supported tiers in 2022. Streamers tend to frame these moves around the word choice, but charging the same for a service with ads that you did for a service without them isn’t offering a choice so much as taxing your audience’s time and attention and hoping they’ll stick around. Disney is banking that subscribers will pay up regardless. Now it’s Netflix’s move.
