Disney+ Loses 700,000 Subscribers Following Price Increase

[threesixty360]

Sort of indicates that streaming companies have found their max in terms of users and are now more willing to exploit the existing user base in terms of growth.

More price increases, cuts, layoffs and decrease in actual programming quality will be on the cards as they have reached their maximum growth phase. As is with every business that reaches that point.

Esp. As Disney have invested a heck of a lot of money to get to this point. A lot to pay back…

 

[dmr727]

"If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with."

There is SO much free (or ad supported) content out there, sports over the air, stuff I've accumulated over the years - I don't feel the need to support this stupid ever-more-expensive subscription model. So I miss out on the latest friggin' superhero movie - I'll live. Or if it's that important, I'll buy it.

 

[ttaylor2258]

I was a day 1 subscriber. As soon as they announced this increase, I hit the cancel button. I don't miss it. Sadly, they're still making more money than before. We need a lot more people to jump ship, otherwise they will just raise them again in 6 months.

 

[Sykora171]

Happy to have been one of them! Converting to a Plex server and getting rid of all our lousy $treaming $ervice$.

Funny how we have come full circle.

 

[snipr125]

They will always have subscribers because if you like your legal Marvel and Star Wars content, you need Disney Plus period. As a bonus you get Fox studios content earlier like Alien Romulus and Prey.

 

[webkit]

Can someone offer a credible explanation for why streaming services are seeing constant price increases seemingly across the board? Netflix, for instance, reported a cool $5.4 billion in profit in 2023 and yet the prices keep going up.

What gives?

At least part of it is likely due to a "penetration pricing" approach i.e., pricing a product low at the beginning in order to attract customers/subscribers and then gradually raise prices as the product becomes more established in the market.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Can someone offer a credible explanation for why streaming services are seeing constant price increases seemingly across the board?

"Because they can"

(Same reason Apple absolutely SCREWS people on component upgrade pricing)

Expect more and more of it, especially if people just keep paying it

If people don't vote with their wallets, nothing will ever change

 

[AppliedMicro]

At least part of it is likely due to a "penetration pricing" approach i.e., pricing a product low at the beginning in order to attract customers/subscribers and then gradually raise prices as the product becomes more established in the market.

Similarly to what Apple successfully did with their “App Store”.

Pricing sign-up, app review, hosting and developer tools low.
And then not lowering prices as economies of scale increased dramatically, as would be expected in competitive markets.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Similarly to what Apple successfully did with their “App Store”.

Pricing sign-up, app review, hosting and developer tools low.
And then not lowering prices as economies of scale increased dramatically, as would be expected in competitive markets.

Yep
All the teams are running the same plays

How someone feels about it seems to depend upon which teams they root for

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

My Plex server is the best investment I've made ever since I saw the writing on the wall with all of these price increases and password sharing limitations.

Plex Server doesn't come with come with content like the streaming services unless you go out and BUY physical media and spend entire weekends ripping them to files which sounds much more expensive than the $3 price increase at Disney. What do you watch on Plex?

 

[turbineseaplane]

Plex Server doesn't come with come with content like the streaming services unless you go out and BUY physical media

It is, however, nice to "pay once" and have it forever

The economics of it get very good eventually, particularly for content you love and want to have and watch for the rest of your life

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

No need to steal, just sub, binge and unsub, rinse and repeat.

When viewed through this lens $20/mo is dirt cheap, you just can't have them all at once.

And this is exactly why providers have to keep raising rates for everyone else. Imagine if everyone did this -- they'd all go out of business.

 

[Obioban]

They will always have subscribers because if you like your legal Marvel and Star Wars content, you need Disney Plus period. As a bonus you get Fox studios content earlier like Alien Romulus and Prey.

Does anyone like Marvel or Star Wars content at this point?

 

[cocky jeremy]

I'll pay for Disney+ maybe once a year when I get on a Boy Meets World kick.

 

[Obioban]

Plex Server doesn't come with come with content like the streaming services unless you go out and BUY physical media and spend entire weekends ripping them to files which sounds much more expensive than the $3 price increase at Disney. What do you watch on Plex?

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help.rapidseedbox.com

 

[surferfb]

$150? 😲

That’s about what I pay for all my “subscriptions” combined (when excluding the necessary big three: rent, health insurance, transit). gym membership, home insurance, monthly bank account and card “subscription” fees, fibre internet, 3 mobile SIM cards with unlimited data, iTunes Match - that’s about $150. I don’t live in a cheap country.

Yep it was out of control. Most of it was YouTubeTV (which cable) - was $80 a month. But $23 for Netflix, $26 for Disney/Hulu Bundle $21 for Max. I might be forgetting something. We kept AppleTV+ because it's bundled in Apple One, and I kept F1 TV although really should cancel it but can't bring myself to.

Almost all of them have raised their prices since we canceled too.

 

[Obioban]

And this is exactly why providers have to keep raising rates for everyone else. Imagine if everyone did this -- they'd all go out of business.

I have about as much sympathy for the media companies as I do for insurance agencies.

 

[surferfb]

So many Americans have absolutely no self-control or discipline on financial things, and with regard to these family members, they simply don’t understand that sometimes you need to say “no”, and don’t just always get everything you want at every turn no matter what the financial ramifications are.

It’s honestly painful to watch

I am lucky to have a very high paying job and am married to someone who works for a very successful family business, but that doesn't mean every year I can buy a maxed out Mac, a luxury car, the A Lange & Söhne watch I drool over, a top-of-the-line home theater, a country club membership, private school for the kids etc. etc. etc. One or two of those things a year? Sure (although it wouldn't necessarily be prudent, and I know buying the watch would definitely also buy me a very expensive divorce 😂 ). But not not all of them.

So many people don't understand the difference between being able to afford anything they want, and the ability to afford everything they want.

 

[icanhazmac]

And this is exactly why providers have to keep raising rates for everyone else. Imagine if everyone did this -- they'd all go out of business.

I am always amused in these threads when some of the same people that openly promote stealing via piracy are the same people that want content creators to be paid more. The two things are mutually exclusive concepts but they refuse to see or acknowledge it.

 

[Obioban]

I am always amused in these threads when some of the same people that openly promote stealing via piracy are the same people that want content creators to be paid more. The two things are mutually exclusive concepts but they refuse to see or acknowledge it.

I think the adult pretenders (actors) are overpaid, as well

 

[turbineseaplane]

I am always amused in these threads when some of the same people that openly promote stealing via piracy are the same people that want content creators to be paid more. The two things are mutually exclusive concepts but they refuse to see or acknowledge it.

Subscription prices going up ≠ content creators getting paid more

One of many problems in this industry

 

[psxp]

I'm one of the 700,000+ ex subscribers. Won't be back.

 

[spazzcat]

So they're making an extra $250 million a month on the $2 price increase - and lost out on between $5.6 million and $9.8 million on the canceled subscribers. I'd take that deal if I were them!

Not even sure why this is a story they lost 1% of their users.

 

[joshwithachance]

Including myself. But it's irrelevant to them/their bottomline, because losing less than 1% of total subscribers after implementing a 15-25% price increase means they still make out WAY ahead...

 

[GtrDude]

700k fewer subscribers out of 124 million with each one of those paying two dollars more per month.
This has exactly no effect on Disney other than they are now making 248 million dollars more per month.
They're all happy.
Now they're even going to ad advertizements on several movies and shows on both Disney and Hulu even though you are on the non-ad tier.
Utterly disgusting.
It's like when Apple started adding ads in the App store and Apple news even though you're paying for Apple news.
Filth...all of it. Absolute filth.