Disney significantly raises the prices of ad-free Disney+, Hulu
On Wednesday, Disney announced a price hike for its streaming services, Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+. The new prices are as follows:
Disney+ without ads will cost $13.99 a month, an increase of $3 from the current $10.99.
Hulu without ads will cost $17.99 a month, up $3 from the current $14.99.
ESPN+ will cost $10.99 a month, up $1 from $9.99.
A new Disney+/Hulu ad-free bundle will be offered for $19.99/month.
The ad-based Disney+/Hulu/ESPN+ bundle will cost $14.99 a month, up $2 from the current $12.99.
The ad-free Disney+/Hulu/ESPN+ bundle will cost $24.99 a month, up $5(!) from $19.99.
The ad-free Disney+/Hulu bundle launches on September 6; all the new prices go into effect on October 12.
On top of that, Disney’s also planning to crack down on password sharing. Apparently, Netflix not being significantly hurt by its own password crackdown seems to have given Disney (and likely other streamers) carte blanche to do the same thing.
Ad-free Hulu: Now one of the most expensive streaming services?
Some of these are some substantial price hikes, especially for the ad-free Disney+/Hulu/ESPN+ bundle (a $5 price hike?!). Hulu without ads is now one of the most expensive stand-alone streaming services; at $18, it costs more than Max’s standard tier (at $15.99/month) or Netflix’s standard tier (at $15.49/month). Never mind this also marks the second price increase for the ad-free version of Disney+ within a year, going from $7.99 to $10.99 last December.
Ideally, said increases would help Disney pay its striking writers and actors better. However, I doubt it’s being done in that spirit. More likely, the new price points (significantly hiking the cost of ad-free tiers) are a way to drive customers to sign up for the cheaper ad-based options, as well as get Hulu bundled with Disney+. Ads are lucrative, often more so than what ad-free tiers earn. In 2019, Hulu was reported to earn about $15 for each customer on its then-$6-a-month ad-based plan; at the time, the ad-free version of Hulu was $12 a month. I’m guessing it’s how Hulu can afford to offer those steeply discounted deals on Black Friday.
Disney reported that Hulu was the only service to see a gain in subscribers this past quarter, while Disney+ and ESPN+ lost customers. (The Disney+ decline was mostly due to Disney losing cricket rights in India.)
I don’t see much of an uptake for the ad-free version of Hulu; The Streamable states a whopping 90% of Hulu’s subscribers are on the ad-based tier. And at only $2 less than the Hulu/Disney+ bundle, ad-free Hulu by itself is a pretty poor deal, unless one dislikes Disney+.
The return of cable TV? Not quite
Finally, charging for a service that also carries ads is cable TV’s traditional model. As cable was lucrative, it’s not surprising Disney, Warner Bros., etc. would love to replicate that with streaming. That said, it’s not quite the return of cable TV—one doesn’t have to subscribe to every service (regardless of streaming wars hype), and streaming mostly lacks the ludicrous fees Comcast or the like charge.
Looking up the monthly cost of buying the most popular streaming services in the US (Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, and Max) at their most popular tiers:
Netflix: $7 (ads) / $15.49 (cheapest ad-free tier)
Hulu/Disney+: $10 (bundle, with ads) / $20 (bundle, ad-free)
Amazon Prime Video: $15 (full Prime service; no ads)
Max: $10 (ads) / $16 (cheapest ad-free tier)
Total: $42 (with ads) / $66.49 (ad-free)
Meanwhile, Sling TV currently costs $40/month for a single tier; YouTube TV runs $73/month. A traditional cable TV plan is still the worst TV deal; the website CableTV.com states a typical standalone cable TV plan costs about $83 a month, but that’s before any fees are added.
Still, streaming services prices are going up, and $25/month might give some Disney bundle subscribers pause.
Conclusion
I’m currently on the ad-free Disney+ bundle. I like Disney+ for animation, ESPN+ for out-of-market hockey coverage, and Hulu as an alternative to Netflix/Max. At $25/month, it’s still a decent deal (an average of $8.33 for each service, with Disney+ and Hulu ad-free), but still a large price increase. Dropping down to the ad-based tier might be an option, but Hulu without ads has been a vastly better viewing experience than Hulu with ads.
Do any of you subscribe to Disney+, Hulu, and/or ESPN+? If so, do you plan to change your subscription or cancel?
Image: Hulu and Disney+ logos. (Disney)